I See You Blockchain User, or Not! Privacy in the Age of Blockchains

Note: Presentation times are in Pacific Standard Time (PST).

Wednesday, February 02, 2022 - 4:20 pm4:50 pm

Ghada Almashaqbeh, University of Connecticut

Abstract: 

Cryptocurrencies and blockchains introduced an innovative computation model that paved the way for a large variety of applications. However, lack of privacy is a huge concern, especially for permissionless public blockchains. Clients do not want their financial activity to be tracked, their pseudonym addresses to be linked to their real identities, or even worse, disclose their sensitive data when processed by smart contracts. This talk will shed light on this issue, explore current solutions and technology trends, define the gaps, and then explore the road ahead towards viable privacy solutions for private computations over blockchains.

Ghada Almashaqbeh, University of Connecticut

Ghada Almashaqbeh is an assistant professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Connecticut. Her research interests span cryptography, privacy, and systems security with a large focus on blockchains and their applications. Ghada received her PhD from Columbia in 2019. Before joining UConn, she spent a while exploring the world of entrepreneurship; she was a Cofounder and Research Scientist at CacheCash, and then a Cryptographer at NuCypher. Ghada is an affiliated member at the Connecticut Advanced Computing Center (CACC) and the Engineering for Human Rights Initiative at UConn.
BibTeX
@conference {277329,
author = {Ghada Almashaqbeh},
title = {I See You Blockchain User, or Not! Privacy in the Age of Blockchains},
year = {2022},
address = {Santa Clara, CA},
publisher = {USENIX Association},
month = feb
}

Presentation Video