Oded Goldreich - Böcker

Cryptography is concerned with the conceptualization, definition and construction of computing systems that address security concerns. The design of cryptographic systems must be based on firm foundations. This book presents a rigorous and systematic treatment of the foundational issues: defining cryptographic tasks and solving new cryptographic problems using existing tools. It focuses on the basic mathematical tools: computational difficulty (one-way functions), pseudorandomness and zero-knowledge proofs. The emphasis is on the clarification of fundamental concepts and on demonstrating the feasibility of solving cryptographic problems, rather than on describing ad-hoc approaches. The book is suitable for use in a graduate course on cryptography and as a reference book for experts. The author assumes basic familiarity with the design and analysis of algorithms; some knowledge of complexity theory and probability is also useful.

Cryptography is concerned with the conceptualization, definition and construction of computing systems that address security concerns. The design of cryptographic systems must be based on firm foundations. Foundations of Cryptography presents a rigorous and systematic treatment of foundational issues, defining cryptographic tasks and solving cryptographic problems. The emphasis is on the clarification of fundamental concepts and on demonstrating the feasibility of solving several central cryptographic problems, as opposed to describing ad-hoc approaches. This second volume contains a thorough treatment of three basic applications: Encryption, Signatures, and General Cryptographic Protocols. It builds on the previous volume, which provided a treatment of one-way functions, pseudorandomness, and zero-knowledge proofs. It is suitable for use in a graduate course on cryptography and as a reference book for experts. The author assumes basic familiarity with the design and analysis of algorithms; some knowledge of complexity theory and probability is also useful.

The focus of this book is the P versus NP Question and the theory of NP-completeness. It also provides adequate preliminaries regarding computational problems and computational models. The P versus NP Question asks whether or not finding solutions is harder than checking the correctness of solutions. An alternative formulation asks whether or not discovering proofs is harder than verifying their correctness. It is widely believed that the answer to these equivalent formulations is positive, and this is captured by saying that P is different from NP. Although the P versus NP Question remains unresolved, the theory of NP-completeness offers evidence for the intractability of specific problems in NP by showing that they are universal for the entire class. Amazingly enough, NP-complete problems exist, and furthermore hundreds of natural computational problems arising in many different areas of mathematics and science are NP-complete.

The focus of this book is the P versus NP Question and the theory of NP-completeness. It also provides adequate preliminaries regarding computational problems and computational models. The P versus NP Question asks whether or not finding solutions is harder than checking the correctness of solutions. An alternative formulation asks whether or not discovering proofs is harder than verifying their correctness. It is widely believed that the answer to these equivalent formulations is positive, and this is captured by saying that P is different from NP. Although the P versus NP Question remains unresolved, the theory of NP-completeness offers evidence for the intractability of specific problems in NP by showing that they are universal for the entire class. Amazingly enough, NP-complete problems exist, and furthermore hundreds of natural computational problems arising in many different areas of mathematics and science are NP-complete.

Complexity theory is a central field of the theoretical foundations of computer science. It is concerned with the general study of the intrinsic complexity of computational tasks; that is, it addresses the question of what can be achieved within limited time (and/or with other limited natural computational resources). This book offers a conceptual perspective on complexity theory. It is intended to serve as an introduction for advanced undergraduate and graduate students, either as a textbook or for self-study. The book will also be useful to experts, since it provides expositions of the various sub-areas of complexity theory such as hardness amplification, pseudorandomness and probabilistic proof systems. In each case, the author starts by posing the intuitive questions that are addressed by the sub-area and then discusses the choices made in the actual formulation of these questions, the approaches that lead to the answers, and the ideas that are embedded in these answers.

Property testing is concerned with the design of super-fast algorithms for the structural analysis of large quantities of data. The aim is to unveil global features of the data, such as determining whether the data has a particular property or estimating global parameters. Remarkably, it is possible for decisions to be made by accessing only a small portion of the data. Property testing focuses on properties and parameters that go beyond simple statistics. This book provides an extensive and authoritative introduction to property testing. It provides a wide range of algorithmic techniques for the design and analysis of tests for algebraic properties, properties of Boolean functions, graph properties, and properties of distributions.

Cryptography is concerned with the construction of schemes that withstand any abuse.A cryptographic scheme is constructed so as to maintain a desired functionality, even under malicious attempts aimed at making it deviate from its prescribed behavior. The design of cryptographic systems must be based on firm foundations, whereas ad hoc approaches and heuristics are a very dangerous way to go. These foundations were developed mostly in the 1980s, in works that are all co-authored by Shafi Goldwasser and/or Silvio Micali. These works have transformed cryptography from an engineering discipline, lacking sound theoretical foundations, into a scientific field possessing a well-founded theory, which influences practice as well as contributes to other areas of theoretical computer science.This book celebrates these works, which were the basis for bestowing the 2012 A.M. Turing Award upon Shafi Goldwasser and Silvio Micali. A significant portion of this book reproduces some of these works, and another portion consists of scientific perspectives by some of their former students. The highlight of the book is provided by a few chapters that allow the readers to meet Shafi and Silvio in person. These include interviews with them, their biographies and their Turing Award lectures.

Cryptography is concerned with the construction of schemes that withstand any abuse.A cryptographic scheme is constructed so as to maintain a desired functionality, even under malicious attempts aimed at making it deviate from its prescribed behavior. The design of cryptographic systems must be based on firm foundations, whereas ad hoc approaches and heuristics are a very dangerous way to go. These foundations were developed mostly in the 1980s, in works that are all co-authored by Shafi Goldwasser and/or Silvio Micali. These works have transformed cryptography from an engineering discipline, lacking sound theoretical foundations, into a scientific field possessing a well-founded theory, which influences practice as well as contributes to other areas of theoretical computer science.This book celebrates these works, which were the basis for bestowing the 2012 A.M. Turing Award upon Shafi Goldwasser and Silvio Micali. A significant portion of this book reproduces some of these works, and another portion consists of scientific perspectives by some of their former students. The highlight of the book is provided by a few chapters that allow the readers to meet Shafi and Silvio in person. These include interviews with them, their biographies and their Turing Award lectures.

This volume contains a collection of studies in the areas of complexity theory and property testing. The 21 pieces of scientific work included were conducted at different times, mostly during the last decade. Although most of these works have been cited in the literature, none of them was formally published before. Within complexity theory the topics include constant-depth Boolean circuits, explicit construction of expander graphs, interactive proof systems, monotone formulae for majority, probabilistically checkable proofs (PCPs), pseudorandomness, worst-case to average-case reductions, and zero-knowledge proofs.Within property testing the topics include distribution testing, linearity testing, lower bounds on the query complexity (of property testing), testing graph properties, and tolerant testing. A common theme in this collection is the interplay between randomness and computation.

This volume contains a collection of studies in the areas of complexity theory and local algorithms. Other topics in property testing include testing group properties and testing properties of affine subspaces.

On May 1, 2004, the world of theoretical computer science su?ered a stunning loss: Shimon Even passed away. Few computer scientists have had as long, s- tained, and in?uential a career as Shimon. Shimon Even was born in Tel-Aviv in 1935. He received a B.Sc. in Elect- cal Engineering from the Technion in 1959, an M.A. in Mathematics from the University of Northern Carolina in 1961, and a Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from Harvard University in 1963. He held positions at the Technion (1964–67 and 1974–2003), Harvard University (1967–69), the Weizmann Institute (1969– 74), and the Tel-Aviv Academic College (2003-04). He visited many universities and research institutes, including Bell Laboratories, Boston University, Cornell, Duke, Lucent Technologies, MIT, Paderborn, Stanford, UC-Berkeley, USC and UT-Dallas. Shimon Even played a major role in establishing computer science education in Israel and led the development of academic programs in two major insti- tions: the Weizmann Institute and the Technion. In 1969 he established at the Weizmann the ?rst computer science education program in Israel, and led this program for ?ve years. In 1974 he joined the newly formed computer science department at the Technion and shaped its academic development for several decades. These two academic programs turned out to have a lasting impact on the evolution of computer science in Israel.

You can start by putting the DO NOT DISTURB sign. Cay, in Desert Hearts (1985). The interplay between randomness and computation is one of the most fas­ cinating scientific phenomena uncovered in the last couple of decades. This interplay is at the heart of modern cryptography and plays a fundamental role in complexity theory at large. Specifically, the interplay of randomness and computation is pivotal to several intriguing notions of probabilistic proof systems and is the focal of the computational approach to randomness. This book provides an introduction to these three, somewhat interwoven domains (i.e., cryptography, proofs and randomness). Modern Cryptography. Whereas classical cryptography was confined to the art of designing and breaking encryption schemes (or "secrecy codes"), Modern Cryptography is concerned with the rigorous analysis of any system which should withstand malicious attempts to abuse it. We emphasize two aspects of the transition from classical to modern cryptography: ( 1) the wide­ ning of scope from one specific task to an utmost wide general class of tasks; and (2) the move from an engineering-art which strives on ad-hoc tricks to a scientific discipline based on rigorous approaches and techniques.

You can start by putting the DO NOT DISTURB sign. Cay, in Desert Hearts (1985). The interplay between randomness and computation is one of the most fas­ cinating scientific phenomena uncovered in the last couple of decades. This interplay is at the heart of modern cryptography and plays a fundamental role in complexity theory at large. Specifically, the interplay of randomness and computation is pivotal to several intriguing notions of probabilistic proof systems and is the focal of the computational approach to randomness. This book provides an introduction to these three, somewhat interwoven domains (i.e., cryptography, proofs and randomness). Modern Cryptography. Whereas classical cryptography was confined to the art of designing and breaking encryption schemes (or "secrecy codes"), Modern Cryptography is concerned with the rigorous analysis of any system which should withstand malicious attempts to abuse it. We emphasize two aspects of the transition from classical to modern cryptography: ( 1) the wide­ ning of scope from one specific task to an utmost wide general class of tasks; and (2) the move from an engineering-art which strives on ad-hoc tricks to a scientific discipline based on rigorous approaches and techniques.

Property Testing is the study of super-fast (randomized) algorithms for approximate decision making. These algorithms are given direct access to items of a huge data set, and determine, whether this data set has some predetermined (global) property or is far from having this property. Remarkably, this approximate decision is made by accessing a small portion of the data set. This state-of-the-art survey presents a collection of extended abstracts and surveys of leading researchers in property testing and related areas; it reflects the program of a mini-workshop on property testing that took place in January 2010 at the Institute for Computer Science (ITCS), Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. The volume contains two editor's introductions, 10 survey papers and 18 extended abstracts.