David Wagner
Encyclopedia
David A. Wagner is a Professor
of Computer Science
at the University of California, Berkeley
and a well-known researcher in cryptography
and computer security
. He is a member of the Election Assistance Commission
's Technical Guidelines Development Committee
, tasked with assisting the EAC in drafting the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. He is also a member of the ACCURATE
project.
Wagner received an A.B. in Mathematics
from Princeton University
in 1995, an M.S. in Computer Science
from Berkeley in 1999, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Berkeley in 2000.
He has published two books and over 90 peer-reviewed scientific papers. His notable achievements include:
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
and a well-known researcher in cryptography
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
and computer security
Computer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
. He is a member of the Election Assistance Commission
Election Assistance Commission
The Election Assistance Commission is an independent agency of the United States government created by the Help America Vote Act of 2002 . The Commission serves as a national clearinghouse and resource of information regarding election administration...
's Technical Guidelines Development Committee
Technical Guidelines Development Committee
The Technical Guidelines Development Committee of the National Institute of Standards and Technology supports the Election Assistance Commission in the United States by providing recommendations on voluntary standards and guidelines related to voting equipment and technologies...
, tasked with assisting the EAC in drafting the Voluntary Voting System Guidelines. He is also a member of the ACCURATE
ACCURATE
ACCURATE was established in 2005 by a group of computer scientists, psychologists and policy experts to address problems with electronic voting...
project.
Wagner received an A.B. in Mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
from Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
in 1995, an M.S. in Computer Science
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
from Berkeley in 1999, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Berkeley in 2000.
He has published two books and over 90 peer-reviewed scientific papers. His notable achievements include:
- 2007 Served as Principal Investigator for the source code review and also the documentation review of the historic California state Top-to-Bottom review of electronic voting systems certified for use. Flaws found with vendor-supplied voting machineVoting machineVoting machines are the total combination of mechanical, electromechanical, or electronic equipment , that is used to define ballots; to cast and count votes; to report or display election results; and to maintain and produce any audit trail information...
s resulted in decertification and provisional recertification by the Secretary of State. - 2001 Cryptanalysis of WEPWired Equivalent PrivacyWired Equivalent Privacy is a weak security algorithm for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. Introduced as part of the original 802.11 standard ratified in September 1999, its intention was to provide data confidentiality comparable to that of a traditional wired network...
, the security protocol used in 802.11 "WiFiWIFIWIFI is a radio station broadcasting a brokered format. Licensed to Florence, New Jersey, USA, the station is currently operated by Florence Broadcasting Partners, LLC.This station was previously owned by Real Life Broadcasting...
" networks (with Nikita BorisovNikita BorisovNikita Borisov is a cryptographer and computer security researcher, currently an assistant professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign...
and Ian GoldbergIan GoldbergIan Avrum Goldberg is a cryptographer and cypherpunk. He is best known for breaking Netscape's implementation of SSL , and for his role as Chief Scientist of Radialpoint , a Canadian software company...
). - 2000 Cryptanalysis of the A5/1 stream cipherStream cipherIn cryptography, a stream cipher is a symmetric key cipher where plaintext digits are combined with a pseudorandom cipher digit stream . In a stream cipher the plaintext digits are encrypted one at a time, and the transformation of successive digits varies during the encryption...
used in GSM cellphones (with Alex BiryukovAlex BiryukovAlex Biryukov is a cryptographer, currently an assistant professor at the University of Luxembourg. His notable work includes the design of the stream cipher LEX, as well as the cryptanalysis of numerous cryptographic primitives. In 1998, he developed impossible differential cryptanalysis together...
and Adi ShamirAdi ShamirAdi Shamir is an Israeli cryptographer. He is a co-inventor of the RSA algorithm , a co-inventor of the Feige–Fiat–Shamir identification scheme , one of the inventors of differential cryptanalysis and has made numerous contributions to the fields of cryptography and computer...
). - 1999 Cryptanalysis of MicrosoftMicrosoftMicrosoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's PPTPPoint-to-point tunneling protocolThe Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol is a method for implementing virtual private networks. PPTP uses a control channel over TCP and a GRE tunnel operating to encapsulate PPP packets....
tunnelling protocol (with Bruce SchneierBruce SchneierBruce Schneier is an American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer. He is the author of several books on general security topics, computer security and cryptography, and is the founder and chief technology officer of BT Managed Security Solutions, formerly Counterpane Internet...
and "MudgeMudgePeiter C. Zatko, better known as Mudge, was a member of the high profile hacker think tank the L0pht as well as the long-lived computer and culture hacking cooperative The Cult of the Dead Cow...
"). - 1999 Invention of the slide attackSlide attackThe slide attack is a form of cryptanalysis designed to deal with the prevailing idea that even weak ciphers can become very strong by increasing the number of rounds, which can ward off a differential attack. The slide attack works in such a way as to make the number of rounds in a cipher irrelevant...
, a new form of cryptanalysisCryptanalysisCryptanalysis is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information that is normally required to do so. Typically, this involves knowing how the system works and finding a secret key...
(with Alex BiryukovAlex BiryukovAlex Biryukov is a cryptographer, currently an assistant professor at the University of Luxembourg. His notable work includes the design of the stream cipher LEX, as well as the cryptanalysis of numerous cryptographic primitives. In 1998, he developed impossible differential cryptanalysis together...
); also the boomerang attackBoomerang attackIn cryptography, the boomerang attack is a method for the cryptanalysis of block ciphers based on differential cryptanalysis. The attack was published in 1999 by David Wagner, who used it to break the COCONUT98 cipher....
and mod n cryptanalysisMod n cryptanalysisIn cryptography, mod n cryptanalysis is an attack applicable to block and stream ciphers. It is a form of partitioning cryptanalysis that exploits unevenness in how the cipher operates over equivalence classes modulo n...
(the latter with Bruce Schneier and John Kelsey). - 1998 Development of Twofish block cipherBlock cipherIn cryptography, a block cipher is a symmetric key cipher operating on fixed-length groups of bits, called blocks, with an unvarying transformation. A block cipher encryption algorithm might take a 128-bit block of plaintext as input, and output a corresponding 128-bit block of ciphertext...
, which was a finalist for NIST's Advanced Encryption Standard competitionAdvanced Encryption Standard processThe Advanced Encryption Standard , the block cipher ratified as a standard by National Institute of Standards and Technology of the United States , was chosen using a process markedly more open and transparent than its predecessor, the aging Data Encryption Standard...
(with Bruce SchneierBruce SchneierBruce Schneier is an American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer. He is the author of several books on general security topics, computer security and cryptography, and is the founder and chief technology officer of BT Managed Security Solutions, formerly Counterpane Internet...
, John KelseyJohn Kelsey (cryptanalyst)John Kelsey is a cryptographer currently working at NIST. His research interests include cryptanalysis and design of symmetric cryptography primitives , analysis and design of cryptographic protocols, cryptographic random number generation, electronic voting, side-channel attacks on cryptography...
, Doug Whiting, Chris HallChris Hall (cryptographer)Christopher Hall is an American cryptographer and mathematician. He is one of the creators of the cryptosystem Twofish. He obtained a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Princeton University in 2003, under Nick Katz.-References:...
, and Niels FergusonNiels FergusonNiels T. Ferguson is a Dutch cryptographer and consultant who currently works for Microsoft. He has worked with others, including Bruce Schneier, designing cryptographic algorithms, testing algorithms and protocols, and writing papers and books...
). - 1997 Cryptanalyzed the CMEA algorithm used in many U.S.United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
cellphones (with Bruce SchneierBruce SchneierBruce Schneier is an American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer. He is the author of several books on general security topics, computer security and cryptography, and is the founder and chief technology officer of BT Managed Security Solutions, formerly Counterpane Internet...
). - 1995 Discovered a flaw in the implementation of SSL in Netscape NavigatorNetscape NavigatorNetscape Navigator was a proprietary web browser that was popular in the 1990s. It was the flagship product of the Netscape Communications Corporation and the dominant web browser in terms of usage share, although by 2002 its usage had almost disappeared...
(with Ian GoldbergIan GoldbergIan Avrum Goldberg is a cryptographer and cypherpunk. He is best known for breaking Netscape's implementation of SSL , and for his role as Chief Scientist of Radialpoint , a Canadian software company...
).