Secure Computation
Postgraduate course, IIT Kanpur, Computer Science and Engineering, 2024
About the Course
The early pioneers of the Internet envisioned it would be the great equalizer and lead to the complete democratization of the online world—nearly four decades since the reality has diverged considerably from their grand vision. Rather than the bastion of freedom and free speech, which the early visionaries envisioned, the Internet has become a dangerous place. Data theft leading to identity theft has become commonplace. Despite these challenges, it is undeniable that the Internet has revolutionized our lives by making day-to-day tasks easier and connecting people worldwide — however, the risks associated with the Internet loom large. Secure Computation is a promising technique that allows users to keep their data private without sacrificing the Internet’s benefits. Interestingly, the origins of Secure Computation were during the exact times when the Internet was in its nascent stages. The early researchers of Secure Computation studied it mainly as a theoretical endeavor. However, nearly four decades after its inception, Secure Computation is more than just a problem of theoretical importance; it can solve practical privacy problems many of which arise due to the expansion of the Internet.
Course Organization
Where and When?
KD102. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 5.00 PM to 6.00 PM.
Course Staff
- Instructor: Adithya Vadapalli
Teaching Assistants
- Anindya anindyag@cse.iitk.ac.in
Office Hours
By Appointment.
Course Schedule
| # | Date | Topic | Compulsory Reading | Optional Reading |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 31.07.24 | Introduction | TBD | TBD |
| 2 | 02.08.24 | Evaluating an MPC protocol | ||
| 3 | 12.08.24 | Intro to GC | ||
| 4 | 14.08.24 | P&P, Free XOR, 3GRR | ||
| 5 | 16.08.24 | Flexor, 2GRR | ||
| 6 | 19.08.24 | Two Halves make a Whole | ||
| 7 | 21.08.24 | GC Recap + Quiz 1 | ||
| 8 | 23.08.24 | GMW Protocol | ||
| 9 | 28.08.24 | ROT, OTExtension | ||
| 10 | 30.08.24 | IKNP | ||
| 11 | 02.09.24 | IKNP Malicious | ||
| 12 | 04.09.24 | Blum’s Coin Toss | ||
| 13 | 06.09.24 | Recap of OT + Quiz 2 | ||
| 14 | 07.09.24 | Secret Sharing | ||
| 15 | 09.09.24 | ABY | ||
| 16 | 11.09.24 | ABY | ||
| 17 | 13.09.24 | ABY | ||
| 22.09.24 | Midsem | |||
| 18 | 23.09.24 | Distributed Point Functions | ||
| 19 | 25.09.24 | Grotto Framework | ||
| 20 | 27.09.24 | Grotto Framework | ||
| 21 | 30.09.24 | Prefix Parities | ||
| 22 | 04.10.24 | Share Conversion Recap + Quiz 3 |
References
- [1] Resources for MPC: here, and here
- [2] Winter School on MPC
Additional Resources
The are of Privacy and Security really benefits from some outstanding lectures available online. Some of them are below.
- Kevin Yeo’s talk at CrySP on Private Information Retrieval
- Ryan Henry’s tutorial on PIR at ACM CCS 2017
Course Resources
There is no one textbook for this course. There are few useful books though.
- Modern Cryptography by Katz and Lindell
- Pragmatic MPC by Evans, Koselnikov, and Rosulek
Grading
| Quizzes | 5% |
| Midsem | 25% |
| Project. | 70% |
Quizzes
There will be around five quizzes. These will be objective one word answer type questions or true/false questions.
Midsems
The midsem would be closed book. However, you will be given the superset of the midsem in advance.
Project
Theoretical Projects
The possible theoretical projects can be (but not limited to) on the following topics:
- Garbled Circuits
- Oblivious Transfers
- Verifiable Secret Sharing
- Oblivious Random Access Memory
- Distributed Oblivious Random Access Memory
- Private Set Intersection
Practical Projects
The possible practical projects can be (but not limited to) on the following topics:
- Secure Elections
- Secure Auctions
- Private Recommender Systems
- Oblivious Data structures
- Sender Anonymous Messaging Systems
Academic Integrity
See CSE Department’s Policy here
Mental Health Support
See Counselling Service of CSE Deparment here