Title:  “A Few Intriguing Episodes and a Cautionary Tale in Cryptology”

Time:  FRIDAY,  3:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Abstract: Since the beginning of recorded history, and perhaps before, people have attempted to communicate by secret messages. We will highlight a few fascinating incidents in the ever-constant battles between designing and breaking encryption schemes and keeping hidden and revealing secrets. We will examine the Spartan Scytale, the Enigma Machine, birthday attacks, and hash functions and conclude with a cautionary tale about “Spectral Hash.”

Bio:  Ward Heilman started his academic career as a Religion and Philosophy major. After dropping out of college a few times, he finally finished an undergraduate degree in Psychology at the State University of New York at New Paltz. Extensive experience driving trucks and taxis, unloading railroad cars, and working in warehouses led to a second undergraduate degree in Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science. He worked a few short stints at IBM. Eventually, he earned a PhD in Combinatorics. He delights in teaching courses in Logic, Combinatorics, Graph Theory, Abstract Algebra, Cryptology, and Formal Language Theory. One of his proudest roles is as the father of Dr. Ethan Heilman, who has authored over ten technical papers on cryptology and network security and has invented several cryptographic protocols, including OpenPubkey. In his spare time, Ethan enjoys breaking hash functions.