Talks

I have given guest lectures on cryptography and information security more broadly. A common theme in my talks is making cryptography approachable and exciting to newcomers to the field (e.g. advanced high schoolers, undergraduates, etc.). Cryptography brings me great joy, and I hope to share the fun with as many people as possible.

In reverse-chronological order.

Introduction to cybersecurity (a defender's perspective) [slides]

Guest lecture presented at Stevens Institute of Technology (CS101, Fall semester 2024)

Cryptography: modern-day magic [slides]

Guest lecture presented at University of British Columbia (CPSC 436s, Spring semester 2024)

Errata

    • slide 32 states that Shamir Secret Sharing can be performed using the integers "modulo a prime or a power of a prime" as the underlying field. For prime $p$ and integer $k > 0$, the integers modulo $p^k$ are a field only for $k = 1$. Therefore, the second part of the quote is wrong; SSS cannot be done using the integers modulo an arbitrary power of a prime. 
    • slide 61 claims an entropy loss of ~1.4 bits per 8 bits for an SSS implementation with a particular flaw. This is likely incorrect, though I haven't had a chance to sit down and do the math :)

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When does the decimal representation of 1/d terminate?

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Consider the number $\frac{1}{d} \in \mathbb{R}$ for $d \in \mathbb{N}$, and in particular, its decimal representation. For example, $\frac{1}{2} = 0.5, \frac{1}{3} = 0.\bar{3}, \frac{1}{4} = 0.25$, etc. Notice that in some cases the decimal representation of $\frac{1}{d}$ terminates (e.g. $\frac{1}{5} = 0.2$), and in some case it is infinitely long (e.g. $\frac{1}{9} = 0.\bar{1}$). For a particular $d$, can we tell when the decimal representation of $\frac{1}{d}$ terminates, versus when it is infinitely long? This question came up after a night of poker between me and some friends, in the context of  problem #26  from Project Euler. One of my friends claimed that if the prime factors of $d$ are limited to $2$ and $5$ (i.e. one, the other, or both), then the decimal representation of $\frac{1}{d}$ will terminate. Upon a moment of reflection, he also claimed that the converse is true: if $d$ has a prime factor other than $2$ and $5$, then the decimal representation of $\fr...
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