Rafael Pass

The number of transactions we do on the Internet is only increasing; we pay bills, report in sick to work, and buy insurance. Rafael Pass aims to turn the Internet into a more secure place for all of us.

Today’s digital society demands that we be able to trust strangers we meet in the cyberworld. For example, if we want to participate in an auction, we need to trust that the game rules are fair, and that the person bidding the highest will win.
We also want to be able to send private information to a bank when applying for a house loan, without anybody else finding out our salaries.

Rafael Pass, a researcher at Cornell University (USA), believes that if we are to continue to trust the Internet, we need better protection against digital trespassing, and the protocols need to become more secure.

An apt metaphor for a breach is a novice playing chess against a chess master. The novice does not have a chance to win. However, if the novice plays against two chess masters simultaneously, she or he can use one master’s moves to win over the other one. In a similar manner, cryptographic protocols can today be cracked on the Internet in what is called coordinated or concurrent attacks.

As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Pass will develop computational protocols that make the Internet more secure, to resist concurrent attacks. It will become a third party that we can trust, no matter who is on the other side. He will be offered to transfer his research to KTH Royal Institute of Technology.