Usually, security protocols are not executed in isolation. Actually, manny different security protocols usually run in parallel. Still, while the security properties of many of these protocols, e.g., TLS, have been analyzed in great detail, much less research has been devoted to their parallel composition. And, it is far from self-evident that the parallel composition of secure protocols is still secure.

Universities in the UK (and the discussion in this post is based, and most likely limited to, the UK academic sector) accept students with a UG (BSc) degree into their PhD programs. Thus, students in the UK often wonder about the differences between doing a postgraduate taught degree and a postgraduate research degree. But also if you have already your MSc finished (or are close to finishing it) and are considering applying for a PhD programme, it will be useful to understand the differences in the application and selection process.

Numbers play an important role in our everyday life. And computers are known two work fast and efficiently with numbers, hence their name. Therefore, it might come as a surprise that numbers, as represented by modern computers, do not always behave as one expects.

As part of their fourth year of their integrated Masters degree, our computer science students are working on a group software development project. This means a team of five to seven students (equating to an effort of 1500 to 2100 hours in total) develops a piece of software for a client. Which client? Maybe you!

JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is common format for exchanging data. Thus, sometimes it would be handy to be able to “import” JSON-formatted data into Isabelle/HOL, e.g., as part of a datatype package (implemented in Isabelle/ML) for using the data as part of a system verification (in Isabelle/HOL).

Ever wondered how to verify smart contracts written in Solidy? Thanks to our deep embedding of Solidty into Isabelle/HOL, you can now start verifying smart contracts in Isabelle.

We are proud to announce the release of Isabelle/DOF 1.3.0. Isabelle/DOF is a Document Ontology Framework on top of Isabelle 2021-1. Isabelle/DOF allows for both conventional typesetting and formal development.

In our work “A Denotational Semantics of Solidity in Isabelle/HOL” [1] we presented a formal semantics for Solidity, the most common language for implementing smart contracts. Such a formal semantics one of the corner stones of developing a formal verification approach that, mathematically, can prove the absence of certain types of bugs (e.g., such as the Parity Wallet bug that made USD 280mil worth of Ether inaccessible).

But, of course, any verification can only be as good as the underlying semantics. So, how do we ensure that our formal semantics actually captures the behavior of Solidity faithfully? This is the question we answer in our latest paper [2] that will be presented at the International Conference on Tests and Proofs.