Indistinguishability Obfuscation (iO) with Huijia (Rachel) Lin

03/09/2025 1h 25min
Indistinguishability Obfuscation (iO) with Huijia (Rachel) Lin

Listen "Indistinguishability Obfuscation (iO) with Huijia (Rachel) Lin"

Episode Synopsis

In this episode, Anna Rose and Tarun Chitra chat with Huijia (Rachel) Lin from the University of Washington to explore indistinguishability obfuscation (iO), often described as the 'holy grail of cryptography'. iO is a powerful primitive that, if fully realised, could have profound implications for privacy tech as a whole. Rachel helps break down the concept for listeners who may already be familiar with ZK, FHE and TEEs, clarifying how iO differs but also some of the similarities in the assumptions upon which it is based. Rachel also explains how it differs from similar concepts: garbled circuits and functional encryption.

The discussion covers the evolution of iO research in her work over the last decade, how the cryptographic assumptions have hardened since that time, and what iO can offer in terms of precise, controlled information revelation.

 

Related Links
Indistinguishability obfuscation from well-founded assumptionsIndistinguishability Obfuscation from DDH-like Assumptions on Constant-Degree Graded EncodingsOn Lattices, Learning with Errors, Random Linear Codes, and CryptographyHow to Use Indistinguishability Obfuscation: Deniable Encryption, and MoreFunctional Encryption for Quadratic Functions, and Applications to Predicate EncryptionGarbled circuit
 



 

ZK Whiteboard Sessions is an educational video series produced by ZK Hack in collaboration with Bain Capital Crypto. It is focused on the building blocks of zero knowledge technology. Find season 3 of the Whiteboard Sessions as well as previous seasons here.

  



 

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