CSCI 4830/7000 - Project Description

Although we did not discuss it in class, there was a major paper this year at CCS in Denver. A description of the paper can be found at WeakDH.org. Please read through the website and the accompanying paper. Then submit a 4-6 page write-up, typewritten, describing the main results of this research. In particular, answer the following questions:
  1. What is Diffie-Hellman key exchange?
  2. Where is Diffie-Hellman used?
  3. What size prime should companies use if their servers utilize Diffie-Hellman?
  4. What tool did the research team use to scan the Internet and why did they use it?
  5. What fact allowed the team to amortize the work for the Number Field Sieve over many sites?
  6. On what basis did the team conclude that the NSA has used the techniques described in the paper?
Your paper is due on the day of the final (even though we do not have a final): Dec 15th, at 1:30pm. You can submit your paper to my box in ECOT 717 (CS Main Office) or slide it under my door, ECOT 627. If you have questions about how to present or organize your paper, please feel free to ask!