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Another approach to PKIs is motivated by the observation that individuals have many existing relationships with various organizations. This approach leverages the existing databases maintained by organizations to track employees, customers, members, etc. Certificates issued by organizations not for general use, but focused on a specific application context, avoid many of the problems facing generic, public CAs. For example, liability can be well understood because the certificate is bounded in its use. The level of assurance for authentication is determined solely by the issuer, in the context of the application, and the issuer's database provides data associated with the subject that may be used to support on-line registration with fairly high levels of assurance. Naming problems disappear because each subject is already assigned a unique name in the issuer's database.
Over the last 20 years, Dr. Kent's R&D activities have included the design and development of user authentication and access control systems, network layer encryption and access control systems, secure transport layer protocols secure e-mail technology, multi-level secure (X.500) directory systems, public-key certification authority systems, and key recovery (key escrow) systems. His most recent work focuses on public- key certification infrastructures for government and commercial applications, security for Internet routing, and security for mobile computing. The author of two book chapters and numerous technical papers on network security, Dr. Kent has served as a referee, panelist and session chair for a number of conferences. Since 1977 he has lectured on the topic of network security on behalf of government agencies, universities, and private companies throughout the United States, Europe, Australia, and the Far East.
Dr. Kent received the B.S. degree in mathematics from Loyola University of New Orleans, and the S.M., E.E., and Ph.D. degrees in computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is a Fellow of the ACM, a member of the Internet Society and of Sigma Xi.
The meeting is free and open to the public. No reservations are required.
Everyone is invited for light refreshments and informal discussion from 6:30 to 7:00 PM. The formal part of the meeting will start at 7:00 PM.
From the Mass. Pike: Take the Pike inbound to the Cambridge/Allston exit. Exit onto the Cambridge offramp and take Cambridge Street. Turn left onto either Storrow or Memorial Drive. (Storrow Drive is on the Boston side of the Charles River and Memorial Drive is on the Cambridge side.) Follow the Storrow and Memorial Drive directions below.
From Storrow and Memorial Drives: Take Storrow or Memorial Drive west; follow signs to Routes 2, 3, 16. Remain on Route 2. The road will become narrow and winding. This is the Fresh Pond Parkway. You will pass several car dealerships and Fresh Pond Seafood on your right. At the first rotary, take the third right onto Concord Avenue. You will then come to a second rotary (the Fresh pond Rotary). Continue straight through this rotary (stay on Concord Avenue). Fawcett Street is one block down Concord Avenue, on the right.
Once on Fawcett Street, 70 Fawcett Street (the BBN building containing Newman Auditorium) is on the right side of Fawcett Street, about 1/2 block from Concord Avenue. Park in the lot on the right side of the street; the lot is immediately before, and adjacent to, the 70 Fawcett Street building. If full, park in the lot across Fawcett Street.