07421 Executive Summary – Formal Protocol Verification Applied

Abstract

Security protocols are a core part of distributed computing systems,
and are part of our everyday life since they are used in web servers,
email, mobile phones, bank transactions, etc. However, security
protocols are notoriously difficult to get right. There are many cases
of protocols which are proposed and considered secure for many years,
but later found to have security flaws. Formal methods offer a
promising way for automated security analysis of protocols. While
there have been considerable advances in this area, most techniques
have only been applied to academic case studies and security
properties such as secrecy and authentication. The
seminar brought together researchers deploying security protocols
in new application areas, cryptographers, and researchers from formal
methods who analyse security protocols. The interaction between
researchers from these different communities aims to open new research
topics, e.g., identify new security properties that need verification
and refine abstractions of the abstract models of crytpographic
primitives.