In Pursuit of a Better Crypto Puzzle

Explore the intricacies of cryptographic puzzles in this 32-minute conference talk from BSides Boston 2015. Delve into the world of cryptographic hash functions, learning about their applications in protocols like TLS and cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Examine the concept of crypto puzzles, their formal definition, and their significance in modern cryptography. Analyze the fixed resources in cryptographic systems, comparing computation and memory bandwidth. Understand the importance of sequentially memory-hard puzzles and their advantages over CPU-intensive alternatives. Discover innovative puzzle designs like the Sliding Tile Problem, Momentum, and Cuckoo Cycle. Gain insights into the pursuit of better crypto puzzles and their potential impact on future cryptographic systems.

Intro
outline
Cryptographic hash function
Aside - how Merkle used crypto puzzles!
Crypto puzzle - a bit more formal
Example Protocol (TLS)
Example Output (bitcoin)
What are our fixed resources
Computation Comparison
Memory Bandwidth Comparison
RAM VS. CPU
Takeaway – why sequentially memory hard?
Sliding Tile Problem
Momentum
Cuckoo Cycle
Call to Action
QUESTIONS?