Talk: Probabilistic proofs: theory, hardware, and everything in between

Abstract: In the past decade, systems that use probabilistic proofs in real-world
applications have seen explosive growth. These systems build upon some
of the crown jewels of theoretical computer science---interactive proofs,
probabilistically checkable proofs, and zero-knowledge proofs---to solve
problems of trust and privacy in a wide range of settings.

This talk describes my work building systems that answer questions ranging
from "how can we build trustworthy hardware that uses untrusted components?"
to "how can we reduce the cost of verifying smart contract execution in
blockchains?" Along the way, I will discuss the pervasive challenges of
efficiency, expressiveness, and scalability in this research area; my approach
to addressing these challenges; and future directions that promise to bring
this exciting technology to bear on an even wider range of applications.

Bio: Riad S. Wahby is a Ph.D. candidate at Stanford, advised by Dan Boneh and
Keith Winstein. His research interests include systems, computer security,
and applied cryptography. Prior to attending Stanford, Riad spent ten years
as an analog and mixed-signal integrated circuit designer. Riad and his
collaborators received a 2016 IEEE Security and Privacy Distinguished Student
Paper award; his work on hashing to elliptic curves is being standardized
by the IETF.