Alice and Bob: Difference between revisions

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== [[Literature]] ==

* In most cryptography textbooks, communications are presented as being between Alice and Bob, and must be secured from a third-party interloper named Eve (for Eavesdropper, of course!). If the problem requires the involvement of more than two parties, then Charlie and Donna may be introduced. This is the basis for the [[~~Xkcd~~]] reference. Other character names sometimes used for special purposes include Mallory (a ''mal''icious active adversary, capable of changing the messages sent between Alice and Bob, whereas Eve merely listens), Trent (a mutually ''tr''usted third party, whom Alice and Bob might prevail upon to execute protocols in which they don't trust each other), and Peggy and Victor (the prover and verifier, respectively, in zero-knowledge proofs).

* In most cryptography textbooks, communications are presented as being between Alice and Bob, and must be secured from a third-party interloper named Eve (for Eavesdropper, of course!). If the problem requires the involvement of more than two parties, then Charlie and Donna may be introduced. (This is the basis for the ''[[xkcd]]'' reference listed below.) Other character names sometimes used for special purposes include Mallory (a ''mal''icious active adversary, capable of changing the messages sent between Alice and Bob, whereas Eve merely listens), Trent (a mutually ''tr''usted third party, whom Alice and Bob might prevail upon to execute protocols in which they don't trust each other), and Peggy and Victor (the prover and verifier, respectively, in zero-knowledge proofs).

** Game Theory books often use an adaptation of Alice and Bob in "Rose and Colin" (rows and columns on game theory charts), with "Larry", or "layer" thrown in for three person games.

*** Game Semantics books tend to use Abelard and Eloise (for resemblance to the universal and existental quantifier symbols, which are an inverted A and a backwards E). They are also the names of a medieval logician and his lover.