Wang Xiaoyun (simplified Chinese: 王小云; traditional Chinese: 王小雲; pinyin: Wáng Xiǎoyún; born 1966) is a Chinese cryptographer, mathematician, and computer scientist. She is a professor in the Department of Mathematics and System Science of Shandong University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.[1]
Wang Xiaoyun | |
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Born | 1966 Zhucheng, Shandong Province |
Nationality | Chinese |
Alma mater | Shandong University |
Known for | Cryptanalysis and hash function design |
Awards | Fellow of the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR, 2019), China's Future Science Prize (2019) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Cryptography, Mathematics, Computer Science |
Institutions | Shandong University, Tsinghua University |
Thesis | (1993) |
Doctoral advisor | Pan Chengdong |
Wang was born in Zhucheng, Shandong Province. She gained bachelor (1987), master (1990) and doctorate (1993) degrees at Shandong University, and subsequently lectured in the mathematics department from 1993.[2] Her doctoral advisor was Pan Chengdong.[3] Wang was appointed assistant professor in 1995, and full professor in 2001. She became the Chen Ning Yang Professor of the Center for Advanced Study, Tsinghua University in 2005.[2]
At the rump session of CRYPTO 2004, she and co-authors demonstrated collision attacks against MD5, SHA-0 and other related hash functions (a collision occurs when two distinct messages result in the same hash function output). They received a standing ovation for their work.[4]
In February 2005, it was reported that Wang and co-authors Yiqun Lisa Yin and Hongbo Yu had found a method to find collisions in the SHA-1 hash function, which is used in many of today's mainstream security products.[5] Their attack is estimated to require less than 269 operations, far fewer than the 280 operations previously thought needed to find a collision in SHA-1. Their work was published at the CRYPTO '05 conference. In August 2005, an improved attack on SHA-1, discovered by Wang, Andrew Yao and Frances Yao, was announced at the CRYPTO conference rump session. The time complexity of the new attack is claimed to be 263.[6]
In 2019, she was named a Fellow of the International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR) for "For essential contributions to the cryptanalysis and design of hash functions, and for service to the IACR."[7] In 2019, she became the first female winner of China's Future Science Prize for her pioneering contribution in cryptography.[8]