Cryptography (from the Greek for "hidden writing") is the ancient science of encoding messages so that only the sender and receiver can understand them. Cryptography is now available to everyone thanks to the development of modern computers, which can perform more mathematical operations in a second than a human being could do in a lifetime. An ordinary PC can produce codes of such complexity that the most powerful supercomputer using the best available attack algorithms would not break them in a million years. Cryptography is used to secure telephone, Internet, and email communication and to protect software and other digital property. It may soon usher in a new age of money with electronic commerce. The Cryptography and Anti-Piracy group within Microsoft Research serves multiple roles:

• Researching new cryptographic methods and applications.
• Working with standards bodies to develop security protocols.
• Providing internal security consulting on Microsoft products.

Researchers

• Josh Benaloh
• Yuqun Chen
• Mariusz Jakubowski
• Kristin Lauter (head of the group)
• Peter Montgomery
• Ramarathnam Venkatesan
• Yacov Yacobi
• Gideon Yuval

Postdoctoral Researchers

• Reinier Bröker

Interns

• Katherine Stange

The Cryptography Group is engaged in work at the forefront of current research. Ongoing projects include:

• Electronic Cash and related Electronic Commerce Infrastructure
• Internet Security Protocols
• High-performance Encryption Methods
• Public-Key Cryptography and Infrastructures
• Theoretical Cryptography
• Computational Number Theory
• Intellectual Property and Content Protection Mechanisms
  • Fighting Pirates
  • FingerMark (Powerpoint Presentation)
  • Watermarking Property
  • The Secure PC