Description
CDS DS 653 investigates techniques for performing trustworthy data analyses without a trusted party, and for conducting data science without data sharing.
The first half of the course investigates cryptocurrencies, the blockchain technology underpinning them, and the incentives for each participant. Students will learn how to create transactions, develop smart contracts, and participate in decentralized exchanges. Then, we take a deeper dive into consensus mechanisms, historical and modern, that maintain stability if a certain fraction of the participants or computing power behaves honestly.
The second half of the course focuses on privacy and anonymity using advanced tools from cryptography. We study zero knowledge proofs and their role in preventing re-identification attacks and increasing scalability of blockchains. We also study secure multiparty computation and its role in designing private contracts and atomic swaps. The course concludes with a broader exploration into the power of conducting data science without being able to see the underlying data.
The first half of the course investigates cryptocurrencies, the blockchain technology underpinning them, and the incentives for each participant. Students will learn how to create transactions, develop smart contracts, and participate in decentralized exchanges. Then, we take a deeper dive into consensus mechanisms, historical and modern, that maintain stability if a certain fraction of the participants or computing power behaves honestly.
The second half of the course focuses on privacy and anonymity using advanced tools from cryptography. We study zero knowledge proofs and their role in preventing re-identification attacks and increasing scalability of blockchains. We also study secure multiparty computation and its role in designing private contracts and atomic swaps. The course concludes with a broader exploration into the power of conducting data science without being able to see the underlying data.
General Information
Course website
BU Academic Code of Conduct
Syllabus
You can download the syllabus using the link at the top of this page. Please read the syllabus carefully in the first week of class, familiarize yourself with how the course works, and maintain that familiarity throughout the semester. You are responsible for adhering to course policies at all times, especially the academic code of conduct, plagiarism, AI, and collaboration policies.
| Name | Office Hours | |
|---|---|---|
Mayank Varia | When? Where? | |
Tejovan Parker | When? Where? |