RATIONAL EXCHANGE PROTOCOLS

An exchange protocol describes a sequence of steps by which several entities are capable of exchanging certain pieces of information in a particular context. Rational exchange protocols serve that core purpose with several important advantages over the existing exchange paradigms. Furhtermore, rational exchange protocols represent the only viable option in many modern ad-hoc and unstructured environments. In this book the author applies concepts from Game Theory to both the analysis and design of rational exchange protocols. With regard to the design of rational protocols, the presented approach is based on applying heuristic search to automate the process, and to generate exchange protocols which can be proven rational within an underlying game theoretical framework. Experimental work is carried out to illustrate the proposed methodology where different heuristic techniques are implemented and their results compared, measuring success rates and the average number of protocols evaluated until an optimal solution is obtained. Finally, as a result of this experimental work, a whole family of multi--party rational exchange protocols is presented.

Autorentext

Almudena Alcaide is Assistant Professor at the Univ. Carlos III of Madrid. She holds a B.Sc. in Mathematics by Univ. Complutense of Madrid and a Ph.D. in Computer Science by Univ. Carlos III of Madrid. Her research is focused on cryptography, especially on formal methods applied to the design and analysis of cryptographic protocols.