Assignment 8

Due Tuesday, August 14, in class

Reminders:
Assignment 6, Problem 2 (50 points) is due Friday, August 10.
Your final project is due Friday, August 24, at 5 PM (or, if you're graduating this quarter, it's due Thursday, August 16, at 5 PM).

Recommended reading:

• RSA: Stallings, Sections 6.1 - 6.3 (particularly 6.2)
• Secret-sharing: Schneier, Applied Cryptography, Sections 3.7, 23.2
• SSL, SET: Stallings, Chapter 14
• General security issues: Stallings, Chapter 15-16
• Denial of Service attacks against Gibson Research Corporation
• Bruce Schneier's Counterpane Internet Security, Inc.
• USPTO PKI: Austin, Chapter 17, and http://www.uspto.gov.

Problem 1 should be submitted in class, Tuesday, August 14, on paper.

1. (25 points) Read the chapter in Austin's book about the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's implementation of a PKI. Write a short essay (approximately one or two paragraphs) about one of the issues faced by USPTO in designing a PKI, the solution they reached, and the lessons learned.

   I would rather you pick one issue and discuss it in some depth than give a vague overview. (I don't want a laundry list, with one sentence devoted to each of several problems.)

   You are welcome to use the USPTO web site as a reference. If you quote or paraphrase directly, please indicate your sources (a relative URL is fine).