Identity Management - A Play Overview and Dramatis Personae.

If I were to write a play about Identity Management, this is the play overview and the characters I would use (courtesy Answers.com ). Note to cryptographers - you should already be familiar with Alice and Bob.

So here we go:

Play Overview:

The play begins with Alice wanting to send a message to Bob, her true love. After going through the whole cryptographic rigamorole, and sending intimate messages to one another, Alice begins to doubt Bob's true identity. Thus, she begins a quest to find the truth by asking their mutual friends, Carol and Dave for proof. As with any good play, plot complications and evil characters arise; Eve, Mallory, and Oscar (Alice's unrequited lover) thwart her at every turn. The chain of events involve exceptional malice and spite and culminate in an appearance before the courts, where Justin, the judge resolves the dispute, uncovers the truth, and puts the bad guys in jail. All ends swimmingly, as Justin is suddenly called to preside over an impromptu wedding ceremony. Who gets married to whom? You'll have to wait for the play to be written before you find out!


IDM Dramatis Personae:

The cast, in order of the alphabet:

Alice and Bob. The main characters. The first known archetypal individuals used to explain cryptographic protocols. These characters were invented by Ron Rivest but he never did explain the relationship between the two of them. This play hopes to explore that aspect.

Carol and Dave, third and fourth participants in communications between Alice and Bob. All four are close friends, but we're never sure how close or what the word "friend" really means for them.

Eve, an eavesdropper, is a passive attacker. While she can listen in on messages between Alice and Bob, she cannot modify them.

Isaac, an Internet Service Provider (ISP). As a result of the Patriot Act, Isaac and Plod (the police officer) have become very good friends.

Ivan, an issuer (as in financial cryptography). No connections with the Russian counterfeiting ring - shame on you for thinking that.

Justin, from the justice system. Clean as a whistle - until he whets his whistle.

Mallory, a malicious attacker; unlike Eve, Mallory can modify messages, substitute her own messages, replay old messages, and so on. The problem of securing a system against Mallory is much greater than against Eve because Mallory has violent tendencies. To further add to the intrigue, Mallory has two evil identical twins of the opposite sex named Marvin and Mallet. I guess that makes them identical triplets - andthe opposite sex thing really throws a good wrench into the main plot and provides great basis for an identity-crisis sub-plot.

Matilda, a merchant (as in ecommerce or financial cryptography). Matilda sells something to do with images, but you'd better ask Steve what exactly this is.

Oscar, an opponent, is usually taken as equivalent to Mallory.

Pat or Peggy,, a prover, and Victor, a verifier, who often must interact in some way to show that the intended transaction has actually taken place.

Plod, a law enforcement officer (P for police, also "Officer Plod" inspired from the children's TV show Noddy). Plod has a secret MD5 hash problem.

Steve, an agoraphobic extrovert, obsesses over Steganography. Steve used to work for a unnamed Port Authority but the fresh air in the vast expanse of the dock container-yards was too much. Due to what might be considered a career-limiting-move (if they find out), Steve quit and found better, more profitable things to do with his time.

Trudy, an intruder: another alternative to Mallory. Could the triplets actually be quadruplets? To sort out this evil quadrangle will require some pretty sophisticated biometric technologies.

Trent, a trusted arbitrator, is some kind of neutral third party, whose exact role varies with the character and topic under discussion. Trust, in Trent's view, is merely a stepping stone to bigger and better things. Trent has aspirations of running for President.

Walter, a warden, may be needed to guard Alice and Bob in some respect, depending on the gravity or absurdity of the situation.

Zoe, the last party to be involved in a cryptographic protocol. Zoe's always the last to the party, but she more than makes up for it by being the last to leave!!!