Digital Signatures

by Jonathan Katz

As a beginning graduate student, I recall being frustrated by a general lack of acces sible sources from which I could learn about (theoretical) cryptography. I remember why aren’t there more books presenting the basics of cryptography at an introductory level? Jumping ahead almost a decade later, as a faculty member my graduate students now ask what is the best resource for learning about (various topics in) cryptography? This monograph is intended to serve as an answer to these 1 questions ― at least with regard to digital signature schemes. Given the above motivation, this book has been written with a beginninggraduate student in a student who is potentially interested in doing research in the ?eld of cryptography, and who has taken an introductory course on the subject, but is not sure where to turn next. Though intended primarily for that audience, I hope that advanced graduate students and researchers will ?nd the book useful as well. In addition to covering various constructions of digital signature schemes in a uni?ed framework, this text also serves as a compendium of various “folklore” results that are, perhaps, not as well known as they should be. This book could also serve as a textbook for a graduate seminar on advanced cryptography; in such a class, I expect the entire book could be covered at a leisurely pace in one semester with perhaps some time left over for excursions into related topics.

205 pages, Hardcover

First published September 1, 2007

About the author

Jonathan Katz is a professor in the Department of Computer Science of the Volgenau School of Engineering at George Mason University where he conducts research on cryptography and cybersecurity. In 2013–2019 he was director of the Maryland Cybersecurity Center at the University of Maryland.

Katz's research interests lie broadly in the areas of cryptography, computer and network security and complexity theory, with his most recent work focusing on secure multi-party computation, database privacy and the science of cybersecurity. He has co-authored the textbook Introduction to Modern Cryptography (2007), which has been used by colleges and universities throughout the world and published more than 100 scientific articles. He has also done extensive consulting work for U.S. government agencies and private corporations, mostly involving cryptographic protocols and algorithms.