TRENDS 2014

September 6, 2014, Rome, Italy

Description

TRENDS 2014 is an event organised by IFIP WG 1.8 on Concurrency Theory. It aims at bringing together researchers interested in Concurrency Theory and its applications to exchange ideas and discuss recent trends and open problems. The event will take place in the morning of September 6, 2014 and will consist of four invited talks, followed by the yearly WG 1.8 business meeting.

Invited Speakers

• Michele Bugliesi, University of Venice, IT
• Stephanie Delaune, CNRS and ENS de Cachan, FR
• Simon Gay, University of Glasgow, UK
• Alexandra Silva, Radboud University Nijmegen, NL

Program and Slides

• 9:00-9:45 Alexandra Silva, Coalgebras for Concurrency
• 9:45-10:30 Simon Gay, Types for Concurrency

• 10:30-11:00 Coffee Break

• 11:00-11:45 Michele Bugliesi, Client-Side Protection in Web Authentication
• 11:45-12:30 Stephanie Delaune, A Process Algebraic Analysis of Privacy-Type Properties in Cryptographic Protocols

• 12:30-13:00 Break (Grabbing Lunch)

• 13:00-14:00 IFIP WG 1.8 Business Meeting + Lunch

Alexandra Silva, Coalgebras for Concurrency

Abstract: Coalgebras are a well-established mathematical framework to study state-based systems. The general framework offers powerful modular techniques that can be instantiated for systems encompassing different features, such as non-determinism and probabilism. There are several applications in concurrency theory, in what concerns proof techniques for equivalence of systems or axiomatizations of process algebras. I will survey recent work on the use of coalgebraic methods in concurrency theory and I will discuss trends, open problems, and potential directions for future work.

Simon Gay, Types for Concurrency

Abstract: I will survey recent work on the use of type systems in concurrency theory and the development of type systems for concurrent programming. I will attempt to identify trends, open problems, and fruitful directions for future work.

Michele Bugliesi, Client-Side Protection in Web Authentication

Abstract:

Authentication on the Web is notoriously vulnerable to a wide range of different attacks, In fact, though current web application frameworks support safe authentication schemas at the server side, developers often misuse them and/or are reluctant to adopt the recommended security practices. Enforcing protection at the browser side has thus become a popular approach. In this talk, I will advocate the analysis of web authentication based on a novel notion of (web) session integrity, which in turn draws on a formalization of web browsers as reactive systems along the lines of recent work in the literature. The new definition of session integrity is effective for two reasons: first, it departs from previous proposals on authentication and integrity to capture the distinctive challenges arising in the Web, like XSS attacks; secondly, it is browser-centric and thus naturally amenable for enforcement at the client side, without any background knowledge on the server behaviour. I will show how the definition captures existing web attacks and spots new ones. I will also discuss a prototype Google Chrome extension enforcing a strong and sound security policy formalized in terms of our theoretical setup.

Stephanie Delaune, A Process Algebraic Analysis of Privacy-Type Properties in Cryptographic Protocols

Abstract:

Cryptographic protocols aim at securing communications over insecure networks such as the Internet, where dishonest users may listen to communications and interfere with them. For example, passports are no more pure paper documents. Instead, they contain a chip that stores additional information such as pictures and fingerprints of their holder. In order to ensure privacy, these chips include a mechanism, i.e. a cryptographic protocol, that does not let the passport disclose private information to external users. This is just a single example but of course privacy appears in many other contexts such as RDFIDs technologies or electronic voting.

Actually, the analysis of cryptographic protocols relies on several concepts which are well-established in the field of process algebras. In particular, the notion of behavioral equivalences allows one to express indistinguishability, which is a crucial concept to model privacy-type security properties (e.g. anonymity, unlinkability, ...) We will discuss some recent advances that we have done to analyse automatically equivalence-based security properties, and we will review some issues that remain to be solved to obtain efficient verification tools.

Participation

Participation, both to the workshop and to the IFIP WG 1.8 meeting, is open to everybody.

Organizers

Ilaria Castellani (INRIA Sophia Antipolis, France)

Mohammad Mousavi (Halmstad University, Sweden)

IFIP WG 1.8 on Concurrency Theory

The aims of IFIP WG 1.8 on Concurrency Theory are:

• To develop theoretical foundations of concurrency, exploring frontiers of existing theoretical models like process algebra and process calculi, so as to obtain a deeper theoretical understanding of concurrent and parallel systems.
• To promote and coordinate the exchange of information on concurrency theory, by sharing ideas, discussing open problems, and identifying future directions of research in the area.

The activities of this WG encompass all aspects of concurrency theory and its applications.

History

The first instalment of TRENDS (TRENDS 2012) was held on September 8, 2012 as a satellite event of CONCUR 2012, in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK. The second instalment of TRENDS (TRENDS 2013) was held on August 31, 2013 as a satellite event of CONCUR 2013, in Buenos Aires, Argentina.