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SUMMARY:Systems & Cryptography Research in Defense of Democracy - Michael 
 A. Specter\, Georgia Tech
DTSTART:20250617T130000Z
DTEND:20250617T140000Z
UID:TALK231703@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Anna Talas
DESCRIPTION:This talk presents the first comprehensive security evaluation
  of Internet voting systems used in U.S. federal elections. We find that a
 ll systems suffer from critical flaws that allow attackers to expose a vot
 er’s private ballot\, change votes\, or otherwise control an election’
 s outcome. As a direct result of this work\, many states altered or cancel
 ed plans to use these voting systems. We’ll discuss the security require
 ments of voting systems\, new developments\, and open problems in the doma
 in.\n\nCentral to this research is an understanding of how the economic\, 
 regulatory\, and technical attributes of actors can result in a misalignme
 nt of incentives\, ultimately leading to security vulnerabilities in high-
 stakes systems crucial to democracy. Expanding on this theme\, I will disc
 uss my work on similar problem domains - including encryption and surveill
 ance - that further demonstrate how an interdisciplinary approach is cruci
 al for solving important\, societally-relevant problems in cryptography an
 d systems security.\n\n\n\nMichael A. Specter is an assistant professor in
  Computer Security and Privacy at the Georgia Institute of Technology. He 
 leads a fantastic laboratory of students working at the intersection of se
 curity\, privacy\, and democracy.\n\nHe holds a PhD in EECS from MIT\, adv
 ised by Gerald Jay Sussman and Danny Weitzner. His research focuses on sys
 tems security and applied cryptography\, with an emphasis on problems that
  have an impact on public policy and society. His interdisciplinary work e
 arned him a Pioneer Award from the Electronic Frontier Foundation\, a JD F
 alk Award from the M3AAWG\, and a Google ASPIRE PhD fellowship. His resear
 ch has been extensively covered in the popular press\, including The New Y
 ork Times\, The New Yorker\, CNN\, Vice\, Bloomberg\, Fortune\, and The Ec
 onomist.\n\nZoom link: https://cam-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/84228083332?pwd=FZadY8C
 7D8hiMqDywf8Sv72yne58OS.1
LOCATION:Webinar & LT2\, Computer Laboratory\, William Gates Building.
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