108 research outputs found
Where's Crypto?: Automated Identification and Classification of Proprietary Cryptographic Primitives in Binary Code
The continuing use of proprietary cryptography in embedded systems across
many industry verticals, from physical access control systems and
telecommunications to machine-to-machine authentication, presents a significant
obstacle to black-box security-evaluation efforts. In-depth security analysis
requires locating and classifying the algorithm in often very large binary
images, thus rendering manual inspection, even when aided by heuristics, time
consuming.
In this paper, we present a novel approach to automate the identification and
classification of (proprietary) cryptographic primitives within binary code.
Our approach is based on Data Flow Graph (DFG) isomorphism, previously proposed
by Lestringant et al. Unfortunately, their DFG isomorphism approach is limited
to known primitives only, and relies on heuristics for selecting code fragments
for analysis. By combining the said approach with symbolic execution, we
overcome all limitations of their work, and are able to extend the analysis
into the domain of unknown, proprietary cryptographic primitives. To
demonstrate that our proposal is practical, we develop various signatures, each
targeted at a distinct class of cryptographic primitives, and present
experimental evaluations for each of them on a set of binaries, both publicly
available (and thus providing reproducible results), and proprietary ones.
Lastly, we provide a free and open-source implementation of our approach,
called Where's Crypto?, in the form of a plug-in for the popular IDA
disassembler.Comment: A proof-of-concept implementation can be found at
https://github.com/wheres-crypto/wheres-crypt
The Minimal Modal Interpretation of Quantum Theory
We introduce a realist, unextravagant interpretation of quantum theory that
builds on the existing physical structure of the theory and allows experiments
to have definite outcomes, but leaves the theory's basic dynamical content
essentially intact. Much as classical systems have specific states that evolve
along definite trajectories through configuration spaces, the traditional
formulation of quantum theory asserts that closed quantum systems have specific
states that evolve unitarily along definite trajectories through Hilbert
spaces, and our interpretation extends this intuitive picture of states and
Hilbert-space trajectories to the case of open quantum systems as well. We
provide independent justification for the partial-trace operation for density
matrices, reformulate wave-function collapse in terms of an underlying
interpolating dynamics, derive the Born rule from deeper principles, resolve
several open questions regarding ontological stability and dynamics, address a
number of familiar no-go theorems, and argue that our interpretation is
ultimately compatible with Lorentz invariance. Along the way, we also
investigate a number of unexplored features of quantum theory, including an
interesting geometrical structure---which we call subsystem space---that we
believe merits further study. We include an appendix that briefly reviews the
traditional Copenhagen interpretation and the measurement problem of quantum
theory, as well as the instrumentalist approach and a collection of
foundational theorems not otherwise discussed in the main text.Comment: 73 pages + references, 9 figures; cosmetic changes, added figure,
updated references, generalized conditional probabilities with attendant
changes to the sections on the EPR-Bohm thought experiment and Lorentz
invariance; for a concise summary, see the companion letter at
arXiv:1405.675
Definable equivalence relations and zeta functions of groups
We prove that the theory of the -adics admits elimination
of imaginaries provided we add a sort for for each . We also prove that the elimination of
imaginaries is uniform in . Using -adic and motivic integration, we
deduce the uniform rationality of certain formal zeta functions arising from
definable equivalence relations. This also yields analogous results for
definable equivalence relations over local fields of positive characteristic.
The appendix contains an alternative proof, using cell decomposition, of the
rationality (for fixed ) of these formal zeta functions that extends to the
subanalytic context.
As an application, we prove rationality and uniformity results for zeta
functions obtained by counting twist isomorphism classes of irreducible
representations of finitely generated nilpotent groups; these are analogous to
similar results of Grunewald, Segal and Smith and of du Sautoy and Grunewald
for subgroup zeta functions of finitely generated nilpotent groups.Comment: 89 pages. Various corrections and changes. To appear in J. Eur. Math.
So
Exponential Networks and Representations of Quivers
We study the geometric description of BPS states in supersymmetric theories
with eight supercharges in terms of geodesic networks on suitable spectral
curves. We lift and extend several constructions of Gaiotto-Moore-Neitzke from
gauge theory to local Calabi-Yau threefolds and related models. The
differential is multi-valued on the covering curve and features a new type of
logarithmic singularity in order to account for D0-branes and non-compact
D4-branes, respectively. We describe local rules for the three-way junctions of
BPS trajectories relative to a particular framing of the curve. We reproduce
BPS quivers of local geometries and illustrate the wall-crossing of finite-mass
bound states in several new examples. We describe first steps toward
understanding the spectrum of framed BPS states in terms of such "exponential
networks."Comment: 82 pages, 60 figures, typos fixe
The Minimal Modal Interpretation of Quantum Theory
We introduce a realist, unextravagant interpretation of quantum theory that builds on the existing physical structure of the theory and allows experiments to have definite outcomes but leaves the theory’s basic dynamical content essentially intact. Much as classical systems have specific states that evolve along definite trajectories through configuration spaces, the traditional formulation of quantum theory permits assuming that closed quantum systems have specific states that evolve unitarily along definite trajectories through Hilbert spaces, and our interpretation extends this intuitive picture of states and Hilbert-space trajectories to the more realistic case of open quantum systems despite the generic development of entanglement. We provide independent justification for the partial-trace operation for density matrices, reformulate wave-function collapse in terms of an underlying interpolating dynamics, derive the Born rule from deeper principles, resolve several open questions regarding ontological stability and dynamics, address a number of familiar no-go theorems, and argue that our interpretation is ultimately compatible with Lorentz invariance. Along the way, we also investigate a number of unexplored features of quantum theory, including an interesting geometrical structure—which we call subsystem space—that we believe merits further study. We conclude with a summary, a list of criteria for future work on quantum foundations, and further research directions. We include an appendix that briefly reviews the traditional Copenhagen interpretation and the measurement problem of quantum theory, as well as the instrumentalist approach and a collection of foundational theorems not otherwise discussed in the main text
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