The Silent Guardian Shafi Goldwasser’s Quest for a Secure Digital Future
Shafi Goldwasser, Ph.D. Professor, Former Director Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing UC Berkeley
By Sarah Colwell
CYBERSECURITY AND PRIVACY
In a world where data is currency and trust is constantly tested, cryptography – the practice of using codes to protect information so that only intended recipients can read it – stands as the silent guardian of our digital age. At the forefront of this battle for security and privacy is Shafi Goldwasser, Ph.D., recipient of the Turing award, widely viewed as the “Nobel Prize of computer science.” As a professor and former director of the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing at UC Berkeley, Goldwasser has spent decades shaping the theoretical bedrock of cryptography, influencing everything from secure transactions to the trustworthiness of artificial intelligence. Now, through her leadership in the UCNI-backed project, she is once again pushing the boundaries of what’s possible. "We are living at a critical juncture where data privacy and verification are essential across every domain—from healthcare to finance to social connectivity," Goldwasser said. "The challenge is to ensure that powerful algorithms can operate securely, even in adversarial environments." A Roadmap of Breakthroughs Goldwasser’s career reads like a roadmap of modern cryptographic breakthroughs. She has made pioneering contributions to fields such as computational complexity–the study of how efficiently problems can be solved by computers; probabilistic algorithms–the use of randomness to improve efficiency and security, and number theory– the mathematical backbone for encryption. Her groundbreaking research has shaped the foundation of secure digital interactions used worldwide today. Alongside co-authors, she has also helped introduce: Interactive proofs: a method that allows someone to prove a statement is true without revealing why; Zero-knowledge proofs: a special type of interactive proof that enables verification without exposing any underlying data; and Fundamental encryption schemes, which are now essential for protecting online communications, financial transactions and personal information.
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