Cybersecurity, cryptography, and COVID contact tracing with Nathan Manohar

In this episode, Nathan Manohar shares theoretical concepts and practical projects from his computer science journey in cybersecurity and cryptography: from applications in secure genome analysis and software obfuscation to digital contact tracing for COVID. Nathan is a PhD candidate in computer science at the University of California, Los Angeles.


  • (0:10) In what ways do we encounter cybersecurity in our lives without really realizing it?
  • (1:25) Key exchange
  • (3:00) What questions guide your research?
  • (4:20) Secure genome analysis
  • (5:13) Functional encryption
  • (6:03) Applications in software obfuscation
  • (6:45) Super-schemes for security
  • (7:32) Beyond or within your studies, what are you most passionate about?
  • (7:56) Journey into cryptography, starting with Sherlock Holmes
  • (9:33) World War II applications, the German Enigma machine, and U.S. Navaho code-talkers
  • (10:04) Imitation Game
  • (11:33) From theoretical to practical projects – digital contact tracing for COVID
  • (12:42) Production
  • (13:41) Signal strength for communication security
  • (14:33) TLS as distinct from Bluetooth
  • (15:16) Started in June
  • (16:20) Collaborating with the health community to develop a secure digital contract tracing method for COVID
  • (21:15) How many people need to have this device for this to be effective?


"People have a hard time admitting that they're not experts in everything; you need the health people to admit that they don't know about computer security, but you need the computer security people to admit that they don't know about how contract tracing is done by the health community." – N. Manohar

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