Prof. Zhong Chen of Peking University, China

Cryptographic techniques have become an important way to expand the functionality and innovate applications of blockchain. Currently, blockchain platforms represented by Ethereum have introduced a series of system-level APIs, providing low-level cryptographic operations such as hashing and elliptic curve operations to support the implementation of various cryptographic applications in smart contracts. However, due to the complexity of cryptographic applications, developers often introduce potential security vulnerabilities when implementing upper-level cryptographic applications based on low-level cryptographic operations, which has led to multiple real-world attack incidents. This talk will introduce our research progress on the demystifying and detecting cryptographic defects in blockchain smart contracts. It includes (1) how to systematically mine, define, and classify cryptographic defects existing in real-world smart contracts based on threat intelligence such as real-world smart contract audit reports. （2） how to combine software engineering techniques such as fuzz testing and static analysis to accurately and efficiently detect new cryptographic defects in smart contracts.

Biography:

Zhong Chen, Ph.D., is Professor and Director of the Metaverse Technology Institute in the School of Computer Sciences at Peking University. Dr. Chen graduated and earned his Ph.D degree from Computer Science and Technology Department of Peking University in 1989, and then joined the faculty of computer science in Peking University. He became full professor in 1995. He was a visiting professor of UCLA from 2001 to 2002. He has been assumed the founding dean position of the School of Software and Microelectronics, Peking University from 2002 to 2010, Chairman of CS department from 2011-2015. Prof. Chen is the fellow and managing director of China Computer Federation (CCF), Vice Director of the Steering Committee of Higher Education on Computer Science and Technology of China, Vice-Chair of China Software Industry Association and Vice-Chair of China Open Source Software Promotion Union (COPU), Director of FinTech and Algorithms Expert Committee of China Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (CSIAM). His research interests include Domain-specific Software Engineering (especially in Banking and Financing, e-Commerce, Digital Government etc.) enterprise digital transformation, smart service applications, Blockchain and Web3 etc. He has published more than 200 research papers and Five academic books. He has supervised 35 Ph.D. and more than 100 Masters. He received the 1st Prize National Higher Education Teaching Achievements Award in 2005 and Excellent Teacher Awards for Computer Science and Technology by China Teacher Development Foundation in 2019.

Address:China