Markus Kuhn (computer scientist) explained

Markus Kuhn
Birth Name:Markus Guenther Kuhn
Birth Date:[1]
Birth Place:Munich, West Germany
Fields:Computer science
Computer security
Tamper resistance[2] [3] [4] [5] [6]
Thesis Title:Compromising emanations: eavesdropping risks of computer displays
Thesis Url:http://ulmss-newton.lib.cam.ac.uk/vwebv/holdingsInfo?bibId=24253
Thesis Year:2002
Doctoral Advisor:Ross J. Anderson
Doctoral Students:Steven Murdoch[7]
Known For:EURion constellation

Markus Guenther Kuhn (born 1971) is a German computer scientist, currently working at the Computer Laboratory, University of Cambridge and a fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge.[8]

Education

Kuhn was educated at University of Erlangen (Germany), he received his Master of Science degree at Purdue University and PhD at the University of Cambridge.

Research

Kuhn's main research interests include computer security, in particular the hardware and signal-processing aspects of it, and distributed systems. He is known, among other things, for his work on security microcontrollers, compromising emanations, and distance-bounding protocols. He developed the Stirmark test for digital watermarking schemes, the OTPW one-time password system, and headed the project that extended the X11 misc-fixed fonts to Unicode.

In 1994, as an undergraduate student, he became known for developing several ways to circumvent the VideoCrypt encryption system, most notably the Season7 smartcard emulator.[9]

In 2002, he published a new method for eavesdropping CRT screens and in 2003 he went on to publish mitigations such as "Tempest fonts".[10]

In 2010, Kuhn was asked to analyse the ADE 651, a device used in Iraq that was said to be a bomb-detecting device; he found that it contained nothing but an anti-theft tag and said that it was "impossible" that the device could detect anything whatsoever.[11]

He is also known for some of his work on international standardisation, such as pioneering the introduction of Unicode/UTF-8 under Linux.[12]

Awards and honours

In 1987 and 1988, he won the German national computer-science contest,[13] and in 1989, he won a gold medal for the West German team at the International Olympiad in Informatics.[14] [15]

Notes and References

  1. ReferencesKuhn, M. (1971, January 1). Retrieved from Sicherheitsanalyse eines Mikroprozessors mit Busverschlusselun
  2. Kuhn . M. G. . Cipher instruction search attack on the bus-encryption security microcontroller DS5002FP . 10.1109/12.729797 . IEEE Transactions on Computers . 47 . 10 . 1153–1157 . 1998 .
  3. Book: Kuhn . M. G. . Optical time-domain eavesdropping risks of CRT displays . 10.1109/SECPRI.2002.1004358 . Proceedings 2002 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy . 3–4 . 2002 . 978-0-7695-1543-4 . 10.1.1.7.5870 . 2385507 .
  4. Book: Hancke . G. P. . Kuhn . M. G. . 10.1109/SECURECOMM.2005.56 . An RFID Distance Bounding Protocol . First International Conference on Security and Privacy for Emerging Areas in Communications Networks (SECURECOMM'05) . 67 . 2005 . 978-0-7695-2369-9 . 435025 .
  5. Petitcolas . F. A. P. . Anderson . R. J. . Kuhn . M. G. . 10.1109/5.771065 . Information hiding-a survey . Proceedings of the IEEE . 87 . 7 . 1062 . 1999 . 10.1.1.333.9397 .
  6. Book: Kuhn . M. G. . Compromising emanations of LCD TV sets . 10.1109/ISEMC.2011.6038442 . 2011 IEEE International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility . 931–936 . 2011 . 978-1-4577-0812-1 . 47153474 .
  7. PhD . Steven James. Murdoch . Covert channel vulnerabilities in anonymity systems . University of Cambridge . 2008 .
  8. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/DeptInfo/Overview/ The Blue Book
  9. Web site: MS-DOS Videocrypt smart card emulator . 19 June 1994 . Markus . Kuhn .
  10. Kuhn . Markus G. . Markus Kuhn (computer scientist) . December 2003. Compromising emanations: eavesdropping risks of computer displays . Technical Report . 577. University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory . Cambridge, United Kingdom . 1476-2986 . UCAM-CL-TR-577 . 2010-10-29.
  11. News: BBC News. Iraq backing for 'bomb detector' . 24 January 2010 .
  12. http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~mgk25/unicode.html UTF-8 and Unicode FAQ for Unix/Linux
  13. P. Heyderhoff: Bundeswettbewerb Informatik. Informatik Spektrum, Vol. 11, pp. 107–108, Springer-Verlag, 1988
  14. P. Heyderhoff: Informatik-Olympiade. Informatik Spektrum, Vol. 12, p. 235, Springer-Verlag, 1989
  15. http://www.oi.edu.pl/ioires/c_ioi89.html Results of the IOI 1989