Talks

Here are the currently confirmed summer school talks!

Safe(r) Digital Intimacy: Lessons for Internet Governance & Digital Safety
Speaker: Elissa M. Redmiles
Abstract: The creators of sexual content face a constellation of unique online risks. In this talk I will review findings from over half a decade of research I’ve conducted in Europe and the US on the use cases, threat models, and protections needed for intimate content and interactions. We will start by discussing what motivates for the consensual sharing of intimate content in recreation ("sexting") and labor (particularly on OnlyFans, a platform focused on commercial sharing of intimate content). We will then turn to the threat of image-based sexual abuse, a form of sexual violence that encompasses the non-consensual creation and/or sharing of intimate content. We will discuss two forms of image-based sexual abuse: the non-consensual distribution of intimate content that was originally shared consensually and the rising use of AI to create intimate content without people’s consent.

We will then transition into an interactive session, breaking into small groups to apply your security knowledge, skills, and tools to the open challenges presented in the talk. Our concluding share-out discussion will connect your interactive engagement with broader conversations around internet governance, digital discrimination, and safety-by-design for marginalized and vulnerable groups.

From Overprivilege to Data Minimization in Trigger-Action Platforms
Speaker: Andrei Sabelfeld
Abstract: Trigger-Action Platforms (TAPs) such as IFTTT, Zapier, and Microsoft Power Automate enable seamless automation across IoT devices, cloud services, and social networks. However, their current design introduces significant privacy and security risks, including excessive data access, overprivilege, and vulnerabilities in third-party apps.

This course will explore privacy and security challenges and defense mechanisms for TAPs. We will cover attacks on JavaScript-driven TAPs, techniques for fine-grained data access, and approaches to data minimization, including minTAP and LazyTAP. The course will include lectures and a hands-on mini-lab.

Fully homomorphic encryption: an introduction
Speaker: Anamaria Costache
Abstract: In this talk, we will introduce Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE), a type of encryption which allows to compute over encrypted data. We will cover a brief historical introduction, give some intuition on how to construct it, and cover some of the currently most efficient schemes. We will finish by covering some challenges and current open questions.

Solving multivariate quadratic systems in practice
Speaker: Monika Trimoska
Abstract: There can be many reasons one needs to solve systems of quadratic equations in multiple variables, but here we focus on applications in cryptography. This talk serves as an introduction to algebraic cryptanalysis, distinguishing the two stages: modelisation of a problem as a multivariate system of equations and solving the resulting system with general-purpose algebraic solvers. We explain briefly the modelisation phase, before going into a survey of state-of-the-art algebraic solvers. For each solver, we explain the core ideas and resulting techniques, as well as the complexity analysis for systems that do not exhibit a particular structure. We also aim to give an intuition for choosing which solvers are best suited for your specific problem.

This talk will prepare you to continue exploring algebraic cryptanalysis, whether independently or as part of the tutorial 'Where did my RAM go? Using algebraic cryptanalysis in practice', which takes place the following day.