Knowledge, Belief, and Semantics in the Analysis of Cryptographic Protocols

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Syverson, Paul F.

Affiliations: Information Technology Division, Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, DC 20875, USA

Abstract: We resolve a debate over the appropriateness for cryptographic protocol analysis of formalisms representing knowledge vs. those representing belief by showing that they are equally adequate for protocol analysis on the logical level. We discuss the significance of semantics for logics of cryptographic protocols. In particular, we look at semantics as a measure of a logic and as a reasoning tool in its own right. To illustrate the value of a semantics we use the semantics given in [AT91] to resolve a debate over an alleged flaw in the logic of [BAN89].

DOI: 10.3233/JCS-1992-13-407

Journal: Journal of Computer Security, vol. 1, no. 3-4, pp. 317-334, 1992