SCP Faculty Recruiting Candidate Seminar - Alex Ozdemir

Presentation Title: Security & Privacy through Programmable Cryptography, Compilers, and Verification

Abstract: How can we build large applications that are secure and private? How can we balance complexity of the application's logic with the complexity of the cryptographic tools needed to achieve security?
 
In this talk, I will discuss an answer to this question: the **programmable cryptography stack**. A programmable cryptosystem allows a developer to build applications that securely compute over encrypted, secret, or distributed data. The programmable cryptography **stack** allows developers to express these secure applications using high level abstractions. I will discuss three of my contributions to the programmable cryptography stack in the domains of cryptography, compilers, and formal verification.

Bio: Alex Ozdemir is a PhD student at Stanford advised by Dan Boneh and Clark Barrett. He combines ideas from cryptography, compilers, and verification to create tools for building more secure and private systems. Before Stanford, Alex worked as a high school teacher and before that he did his undergraduate work at Harvey Mudd College.