CAREER: Towards Secure and Policy-Compliant Encrypted Communications

在过去的几年里，人们使用技术进行交流的方式发生了根本性的变化。这一变化的一个方面是被数十亿用户使用的新加密通信系统的广泛部署。随着新的、实用的加密消息协议和存储技术的出现，加密现在以过去几十年才能想象的数量和质量向公众提供。随着安全加密技术的部署，新的挑战随之而来。这些系统跨越了密码学、软件设计和可用的安全等传统领域。这些系统中的技术缺陷已经使数亿用户面临数据泄露的威胁。与此同时，世界各地的政府呼吁引入新的潜在故障点，以特殊访问系统的形式允许执法部门按需访问通信。该项目研究提供用户安全和向政府机构提供特殊访问权限的要求往往相互矛盾所产生的问题。这项工作涉及对问题的许多方面的研究，从密码协议设计到对法律和行政程序的仔细考虑。研究成果将包括制定这些系统的要求；分析政府机构提出的具体建议；以及设计有意义的审计系统和撤销机制，以便在发生灾难性违规时维护这些系统的安全。研究成果已被纳入研究生和本科课程，并通过新闻出版物和公共博客进行传播。

The past several years have seen a fundamental change in the way that individuals use technology to communicate. One aspect of this change has been the widespread deployment of new encrypted communications systems that are used by billions of users. With the emergence of new, practical encrypted messaging protocols and storage technologies, encryption is now available to the public in a quantity and quality that could only be imagined in previous decades. With the deployment of secure encryption technology comes new challenges. These span the traditional domains of cryptography, software design, and usable security. Technical flaws in these systems have already exposed hundreds of millions of users to the threat of data compromise. At the same time governments around the world have called for the introduction of new potential points of failure, in the form of exceptional access systems that would allow law enforcement to access communications on demand. This project studies problems arising from the often contradictory requirements of providing user security and providing exceptional access to government agencies. The work involves research into many aspects of the problem, ranging from cryptographic protocol design through the careful consideration of legal and administrative procedures. Research outputs will include development of requirements for these systems; analysis of concrete proposals put forward by government agencies; and the design of meaningful auditing systems and revocation mechanisms to maintain security for such systems in the event of a catastrophic breach. The research results have been integrated into graduate and undergraduate courses, and are disseminated through news publications and a public blog.