East Midlands Branch

 

THE INSTITUTE OF MATHEMATICS AND ITS APPLICATIONS

 

Public Key Cryptography

 

by

 

Clifford Cocks

(GCHQ Cheltenham)

 

Tuesday 18 January 2005

starting at 7.30 pm

 

Queen’s Building,

City Site,  De Montfort University,

 Leicester   

 

This is a joint Meeting with the BCS

 

 

Abstract

I will describe the main ideas of public key cryptography; the mathematical principles that underlie this technology and how they were discovered.

 

I will show how this is applied in the real world, for example how it can be used to secure transactions on the internet and I will also explain how digital signatures work.

 

I will then look at a variety of mathematical structures that can be used in cryptography, and discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these different approaches, finishing with a discussion of some recent advances in the subject.

 

 

No charge is made to attend meetings, non-IMA members are welcome

 

 

 

For further details of this event or other East Midlands Branch activities consult the Web Site http://science.ntu.ac.uk/msor/ccb/ima.html or by contacting the Branch General Secretary:

Dr Stephen Hibberd, School of Mathematical Sciences, University of Nottingham; email: Stephen.Hibberd@nottingham.ac.uk or Tel. (0115) 9513841