From 504f797c3afd0fbfe67a5cd87c852510d7924693 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: kammitama5 Date: Thu, 21 Mar 2024 21:09:14 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] Create 2024-03-21-Thursday-March-21st.md --- _posts/2024-03-21-Thursday-March-21st.md | 125 +++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 125 insertions(+) create mode 100644 _posts/2024-03-21-Thursday-March-21st.md diff --git a/_posts/2024-03-21-Thursday-March-21st.md b/_posts/2024-03-21-Thursday-March-21st.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000000000..f704e5de220bd --- /dev/null +++ b/_posts/2024-03-21-Thursday-March-21st.md @@ -0,0 +1,125 @@ +## HACS + +## Hello! +- I'm here in Toronto for HACS, which is a workshop just before Real World Crypto. Yes; RWC was the conference I +attended in 2020 that was *just* before everything locked down, and I haven't really been back in-person since! +Things are so different since then. Can you believe back then I was learning about Differential Privacy back +then, and since then (1) published a paper in that area (2) do cryptography now? +- There is something about this year that has made me feel more "in my own skin" than I have ever felt in a LONG +time. I have so far attributed it to Berkeley, but I really can't say why for sure right now. However, my peers +have found me to be a riot because it's been a long time since I've just been *myself*. I even spoke with a mentor +recently who said that since she met me, everything about me is so much lighter in terms of disposition. She attributed +it to my staying home and working from home, and also my trip to Berkeley, which she said it sounds like "I really +needed to do to get a break". + +## Getting to HACS +- Okay, this was sort of more involved than I expected. I have this thing I do where if it's a red-eye, I will +stay in the airport the night before, and I did that, and usually it's just fellow travellers doing the same, +but this time apparently there was this one guy who was "on something" who was camping out near to my usual +spot. And the police got involved and told him "whatever you're using, you need to stop" because apparently he +was freaking people out. And then I realized that everyone had gone downstairs (probably to avoid said person). +Then they advised me to be careful, and that it was safer downstairs as that is where they were (i.e. the police). +So I moved downstairs, and there were some people hanging out (but it's not as comfortable as my usual spot), +and there was this random dude who was sleeping on a chair who kept talking in his sleep saying "I'm not a r@pist" +which creeped me out. So then I went back upstairs and it was pretty much just an hour or two before the front +desk opened. It kind of reminded me of my Greyhound days in LA, but maybe not as fun (no guy in a wifebeater +buying pickles from a vending machine!). +- The flights were pretty fine; I passed through LaGuardia, which is new and shiny and has good places to eat. +A big thing for me is eating healthily while travelling and avoiding the usual soda and pasty / fried everything +in airports. I arrived and the thing I was looking for (because of lack of experience) didn't show up on my +map to my hotel, so opted for a rideshare instead. This was a good choice because the driver was pretty helpful, +even being gracious when I accidentally called the CN Tower "the Space needle" (no, that's in Seattle). Yikes. +Oh, and Nexus scanned my passport successfully this time, which was a major win. Hooray! +- It took me about three hours to check-in, but that was also something I guess I handled with grace because +I had been having back and forths with the place for a couple days down to the day before leaving because a link +on their website was broken. But they were super great about everything, and I was just exhausted afterwards. +However, I did attend Graph Theory class in the lobby. + +## HACS Day 1 +- HACS, fortunately, was barely 10 minutes from where I'm staying, which was awesome (so is the thing that is +not the Space Needle, so don't call it that or we'll throw you back over the border!). +- What is HACS? It's short for High Assurance Cryptographic Software. It's a mix of people from academia and +industry and they skew towards inviting nice people who can contribute positively to the space; this year, +the topic was the intersection of cryptography and formal methods, specifically for zero knowledge and post-quantum +cryptography. And yes; there were a handful of isogenists I knew from other workshops there! +- So how does HACS run? They're updating the programme each year, but this year they opted for a smaller group; +last year (in Japan) it was around 150; this year they had an upper bound of 100 people. It was a mix of persons +who ahd been there before and those who hadn't, and when you sign in, you can choose (a la Strange Loop) whether +you want a lanyard indicating it's okay to be photographed vs not. Most people opted photographs okay. +- The first thing we did is went around the room and did introductions (three sentences). Yours truly kicked it off, +as I was in a mood because I woke up to my ticket back being cancelled (yay, Canada wants me to stay!) and frantically +(I mean like ten minutes before I left!) was rebooking so that I could, idk get back to the US when I said I would. +Yeah, my life "do be like that" sometimes. +- After introductions, we had about 11 smaller breakout sessions where people who wanted to have discussions had groups +of chairs around their board, and every 30 minutes or so, we would switch to another group. I started off with Chipala's +group on [fiatcrypto](https://github.com/mit-plv/fiat-crypto) and bedrock and learned about the Vale programming language. +- I went to some other formal methods stuff and avoided the PQC stuff, because we were advised to go to sessions we know +less things about. No; people did not have a Lean session :) Also, I went to an FHE group and the cryptographer there +squealed in delight when I kicked off the session asking about operating "over a torus" and what that means :) So that +was pretty neat! +- Then, we had lunch, which included some amazing fried eggplant and we felt like taking a nap for a bit, but it was +time to get to work! We had working sessions for longer periods of time. There were two in the afternoon; the first +I attended was on isogenies, with people I knew, and I took some notes live TeX-ing, because well, I like doing that. +That was pretty productive and we found a lot of possible avenues and things to work on! The second group I attended +was on risks of Quantum Computing, and I enjoyed that session a lot, too. At the end of the first day, which +I really liked, they passed around the mic to everyone, and you could choose to pass, but everyone had an opportunity +to say something they were thinking of or wanted to see tomorrow (some of those will be included!). I really liked this +because sometimes at workshops, people who are "not the loudest" can be ignored, and they can have some really +insightful contributions! This gives everyone a chance to do so. +- Finally, we had a reception. I ended up chatting with some people from Signal, which was mind-blowing and definitely +not something I can imagine coming from my institution I would ordinarily have the chance to do. Also, when I met my +current Maths advisor, I took her mathematical cryptography class and for a final assignment wrote a paper on Signal's +protocol. So it was like coming full-circle. When one person asked me just to be clear "do you know X in our protocol?" +in regards to post-quantum migration, and I said "yes, actually I wrote a paper on it for this class where I met my +Maths advisor". They smiled, and really enjoyed that. And then we spoke about Maths for a couple hours and introduced +me to some other people on their team. It's just been quite wonderful! + +## So in short +- I totally understand why people would make this a yearly thing; the one workshop they make sure to attend! I met +one person in industry who said that it is one of the workshops they attend every year. It is full of THE top +cryptographers but with a specification that they have to be also in the "no jerks" category. +- The energy of the space is quite wonderful; I generally have a lot of workshop / conference anxiety, but one of +the organizers, Trevor, greeted me with a smile; we had been chatting back and forth for months now. +- I'm super grateful that this year I had the opportunity to attend! :) + +## Oh +- On the way home, I picked a random place and tried their thai curry and sesame balls. I was so happy! I promised +myself I'd also try the Trini food here, as quite a few people I know migrated here from my home country. On the first +day, I already found a website with some options! +- One thing I always underestimate is how TIRED I will be at the end of the day. I had planned to stay up late working, +but I ended up falling asleep instead. I think it's important to not burn out, so maybe I really needed to do that. +Besides, I was strangly up at 3am watching Suits lol (just seasons 1 and 2). Needless to say, I do have to catch up +on two sets of homework, but good news! I found out I got into a Quantum-Safe workshops based in IBM Research +Zurich that I thought I had *no chance* of getting into, *and* they gave me funding! +- Zurich has been one of those places that has been within my grasp but the timing has never quite worked out (every +academic seems to have a place like this). It started pre-grad school, actually, when I wanted to attend ZuriHac. +Then EuroCrypt is this year in Zurich, but I am interning. So we'll see if this also is outside of my grasp. +I am jockeying for my internship to show me mercy and grant me a possibility of going. There must be a reason +this year that I was given this opportunity, and it would be sad not to be able to go, but we'll see. +- So...this is my life right now. I'm really happy that my room has one of those coffee / tea makers, and I'm happy +I was able to make a bunch of friends today. Someone even came up to me and said "there you are! I was looking all +over for you!" and I was in shock, and they had a Maths question they though I could help with (surprise!). +Someone said that they found what I was working on to be "super interesting" , and they were legitimately +blown away / fascinated, which was so validating! I had a similar thing happen to me in Berkeley, which is nice +because it encourages you as a budding researcher in confirming that what you are doing is interesting enough, +people care and they are questions the community cares about. +Also, people +cared that I was there, knew my name (!!) and I feel super grateful to have been given the opportunity to be in this space. It's been +wonderful! +- HACS is to be experienced! If any of this interests you, I *highly* recommend going! + +## Anyways, Here are some photos + + + +- From the space of HACS. The views are breathtaking. + + + + + + + +- View from LaGuardia before waiting to board + +## And that's it!