PhD "Work over ciphered data, regulated by an authority" F/M - Caen, France - Orange Business Services

Description

about the role

Your role is to complete a PhD work on: "Work on encrypted data regulated by an authority".

The evolutions of the regulations around the General Data Protection Regulation have led to discussions regarding the accountability of actors handling personal data. In cryptographic protocols, this can be translated into the involvement of regulators who, even if they do not have access to the data, have a decisional power regarding the treatments that are applied.

This PhD thesis aims at developing cryptographic protocols that (1) translate into technical constraints the powers of these regulatory authorities, (2) ensure a level of security according to the "privacy by design" principle. More specifically, these protocols will have to allow the authority to manage (produce and distribute) cryptographic keys authorizing processing while ensuring end-to-end encryption. The use cases will be defined by Orange industrial problematics.

During his/her thesis, the PhD student will study and develop such protocols. He/she will first learn about advanced encryption tools such as fully homomorphic encryption, secure multiparty computation or functional encryption. Then, the PhD student will describe the state of the art of some of these techniques in order to propose concrete schemes and their security proofs.

The missions of the PhD student can be summarized as: familiarization with the problem, study of the state of the art, thinking on solutions, specification of concrete solutions, writing of research papers, presentation of results.

about you

The desired profile is a student of master 2 in mathematics or theoretical computer science having ideally already an experience in research, through an internship or a project in a laboratory.

A solid background in mathematics is required to understand some of the abstract objects used in cryptographic tools, to work on algorithmic aspects or to understand and produce security proofs.

The candidate should be familiar with the field of cryptography, in particular public key cryptography. He/she should also have a basic understanding of proofs of security and knowledge of advanced cryptography.

The successful candidate will have the qualities required for research: rigor, methodology, autonomy, initiative, curiosity.

A good level of English is required, as well as basic skills in LaTex.

additional information

The topic of this PhD thesis is part of the TRUST collaborative project.

This multidisciplinary project combines law and data protection techniques. It will allow the PhD student to work with technical and legal experts, and to develop knowledge regarding legal concerns on personal data and their technical impacts. Finally, the participation in the project could offer the candidate the opportunity to facilitate the exchange of points of view on his/her own work.

department

The ambition of the Innovation Division is to take Orange's innovation further and to strengthen its technological leadership, by mobilizing our research capabilities to fuel responsible innovation at the service of people, to inform the Group's long-term strategic choices and to influence the global digital ecosystem.

We train the experts in today's and tomorrow's technologies, and ensure continuous improvement in the performance of our services and our efficiency.

The Innovation Division has 6,000 employees worldwide dedicated to research and innovation, including 740 researchers. With a global vision and a wide range of profiles (researchers, engineers, designers, developers, data scientists, sociologists, graphic designers, marketers, cybersecurity experts, etc.), the men and women of Innovation are ready to listen to and serve the countries, regions and business units to make Orange a trusted multi-service operator.

Within Orange Innovation, you will be integrated in a research team at the forefront of innovation and expertise in the field of data security: Data Privacy Innovation (DPI). This team includes researchers interested in the protection of data and the infrastructures in which they travel, particularly through cryptographic methods.

contract

Thesis