Roland van Rijswijk-Deij wins international prize for research into elliptic curve cryptography

21 DEC 2016

Roland van Rijswijk-Deij (SURFnet and University of Twente) has been awarded the Applied Networking Research Prize by the IRTF (Internet Research Task Force). He investigated the use of elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) in combination with DNSSEC.

ECC offers more protection, but places a greater burden on hardware

ECC is a type of public-key encryption based on elliptic curves. One advantage of ECC compared to RSA, the current standard in cryptosystems, is that it requires smaller keys while simultaneously offering increased protection. A disadvantage is that checking the signatures takes longer with DNSSEC than with RSA, meaning that it places a greater burden on DNS resolvers.

ECC can be used with DNSSEC without any concerns

Van Rijswijk-Deij looked at whether DNS resolvers can cope with this burden. He concluded that they can, even in worst-case scenarios. As such, the transition to the more secure ECC can be made without any concerns. Read the article about the research conducted by Van Rijswijk-Deij (pdf).

About the Applied Networking Research Prize

The Applied Networking Research Prize is awarded to research that provides a tangible contribution to improving the internet, internet protocols and/or internet standards. Van Rijswijk-Deij will receive EUR 500 and present his research next year at the 100th meeting of the IETF.

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