Computational integrity: succinct proofs in cryptography

Speaker: Chaya Ganesh

Abstract

A common denominator of conventional financial systems, trusted execution environments (like SGX), blockchain technology, and ZK rollups is the promise of computational integrity -- doing the right computation, even when there is no trust. In this talk, we will define computational integrity and show how one can verify the correctness of a computation much more efficiently than having to re-perform the computation. We will introduce the notion of succinct proof systems that allow a prover to convince a verifier about the correctness of computation such that verification is exponentially faster than the computation itself. We will see applications of SNARKs (Succinct Non-interactive ARguments of Knowledge), a kind of succinct arguments in decentralized systems like blockchain technology for both privacy and scalability issues, and outline the design principle underlying SNARK constructions.

Bio

Chaya is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Automation at Indian Institute of Science . Her research interests are in Cryptography and Security. Before joining IISc, she was a post-doctoral researcher in the Crypto group at Aarhus University. She received her PhD from NYU's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.