First-order Verification of Crypto protocols

Dr. Ernie Cohen

Microsoft Research

Abstract: I'll describe a verification method for crypto protocols, based on first-order invariants. For typical protocols, suitable invariants can be generated automatically from the protocol text, allowing safety properties to be proved by automatic first-order theorem proving. This approach has been implemented in an automatic verifier (TAPS) that has proved properties of over 100 protocols, and has found bugs missed in published model checking analyses. If there's time, I'll also describe how the verifier has been extended to prove safety from guessing attacks, and how the method can be adapted to more faithful protocol models.

Short bio: Ernie Cohen is a Test Architect at Microsoft, where he develops formal methods for system software and security. Since his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin, he has worked as a Senior Scientist at Bellcore/Telcordia, and a Visiting Researcher and Software Architect at Microsoft.