Personal Homepage of Juha Partala

Teaching
Research
Publications
Contact Information

Teaching

521149S - Modern Cryptography
521149S - Randomized Algorithms

I am interested in studying cryptographic methods in terms of universal algebra and category theory. I wrote my dissertation on algebraic considerations in cryptography. Many infeasible problems, that are used as the basis of cryptographic algorithms, are based on group theory. For example, the discrete logarithm problem underlying Diffie-Hellman type constructions is based on cyclic groups. Algebraic considerations enable us to find the structure of these problems and formulate analogous problems in non-group algebras. In my dissertation, for example, I show that the Diffie-Hellman problem can be formulated as a problem of computing images under an unknown homomorphism. This realization enables us to move from groups to other algebraic structures and potentially construct more efficient and quantum resistant algorithms. In addition to the mathematical considerations, my research involves the application of these mathematical problems in the construction of new provably secure cryptographic schemes and protocols based on both computational indistinguishability and information theory.

Privacy and confidentiality in biomedical systems and machine learning

I have been involved in several research project involving signal processing and machine learning using physiological signals. Physiological measurements contain private medical information and their confidentiality needs to be ensured in applications. I have designed security architectures for remote health monitoring systems and studied lightweight cryptographic methods related to body area networks and developed methods for user authentication using the electrocardiogram. I have also considered privacy issues related to these topics and applied anonymization methods and differential privacy.

Cryptographic methods related to Blockchain

Blockchain is a distributed ledger that maintains its integrity distributively without trusted third parties. It requires that the integrity of the stored data can be validated using the consensus protocol whenever new blocks are added to the chain. I develop methods that ensure the privacy and confidentiality of this data using e.g. zero-knowledge proofs and arguments.

Interests

Cryptography
Steganography
Security and Privacy
Non-associative algebra
Computational complexity
Randomized algorithms
Quantum computing
Analytic number theory
Riemann hypothesis
Biometrics

Publications

Cryptography and information security

Nguyen, H., Nguyen, T., Leppänen, T., Partala, J., Pirttikangas, S. (2022), Situation Awareness for Autonomous Vehicles Using Blockchain-based Service Cooperation, CAiSE'22 (accepted)

Partala, J. (2021), Indifferentiable Hash Functions in the Standard Model, IET Information Security, 15, pp. 309-316, doi:10.1049/ise2.12025

Partala, J. (2021), Post-quantum Cryptography in 6G, in Wu Y., Singh S., Taleb T., Roy A., Dhillon H. S., Kanagarathinam M. R., De A. (ed.), 6G Mobile Wireless Networks, Springer, pp. 431-448, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-72777-2_20

Nguyen, T., Loven, L., Partala, J., and Pirttikangas, S. (2021), The Intersection of Blockchain and 6G Technologies, in Wu Y., Singh S., Taleb T., Roy A., Dhillon H. S., Kanagarathinam M. R., De A. (ed.), 6G Mobile Wireless Networks, Springer, pp. 393-417, doi:10.1007/978-3-030-72777-2_18

Partala J., Nguyen T., Pirttikangas S. (2020), Non-Interactive Zero-Knowledge for Blockchain: A Survey, IEEE Access, vol. 8, pp. 227945-227961, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2020.3046025

Ylianttila M., Kantola R., Gurtov A., Mucchi L., Oppermann I., Yan Z., Nguyen T. H., Liu F., Hewa T., Liyanage M., Ijaz A., Partala J., Abbas R., Hecker A., Jayousi S., Martinelli A., Caputo S., Bechtold J., Morales I., Stoica A., Abreu G., Shahabuddin S., Panayirci E., Haas H., Kumar T., Ozparlak B. O., Röning J. (2020), 6G White paper: Research challenges for Trust, Security and Privacy, arXiv preprint arXiv:2004.11665

Nguyen T., Tran N., Loven L., Partala J., Kechadi M. T., Pirttikangas S. (2020), Privacy-Aware Blockchain Innovation for 6G: Challenges and Opportunities, 2nd 6G Wireless Summit (6G SUMMIT), 1-5

Partala J., Loven L., Peltonen E., Porambage P., Ylianttila M. (2019), EdgeAI: A Vision for Privacy-preserving Machine Learning on the Edge, SNOW 2019, Ruka, Finland, 1-4 April 2019

Porambage P., Kumar T., Liyanage M., Partala J., Loven L., Ylianttila M. (2019), Sec-EdgeAI: A Vision for using Artificial Intelligence for Securing the Edge, SNOW 2019, Ruka, Finland, 1-4 April 2019

Porambage P., Kumar T., Liyanage M., Partala J, Loven L., Ylianttila M., Seppänen T. (2019), Sec-Edge AI: AI for Edge Security Vs Security for Edge AI 1st 6G Wireless Summit, Levi, Finland, 24-26 March 2019

Loven L., Leppänen T., Peltonen E., Partala J., Harjula E., Porambage P., Ylianttila M., Riekki J. (2019), EdgeAI: A Vision for Distributed, Edge-native Artificial Intelligence in Future 6G Networks, 1st 6G Wireless Summit, Levi, Finland, 24-26 March 2019

Partala J. (2018), Provably Secure Covert Communication on Blockchain, Cryptography, 2(3), doi:10.3390/cryptography2030018

Partala J. (2018), Algebraic Generalization of Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange, Journal of Mathematical Cryptology, 12(1), pp. 1-21, doi:10.1515/jmc-2017-0015 [preprint]

Fylakis A., Keskinarkaus A.,Partala J., Saarakkala S., Seppänen T. (2017), Reversible Data Hiding in FTIR Microspectroscopy Images with Tamper Indication and Payload Error Correction, BioMed Research International, vol. 2017, Article ID 7584852, https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/7584852

Partala J. (2017), Symmetric blind decryption with perfect secrecy, Journal of Computer Networks and Communications, vol. 2017, Article ID 6575907, doi:10.1155/2017/6575907

Partala J. (2017), Semantically secure symmetric encryption with error correction for distributed storage, Security and Communication Networks, vol. 2017, Article ID 4321296, doi:10.1155/2017/4321296

Partala, J., Fylakis, A., Pramila A., Keskinarkaus A., Seppänen, T., (2016), Improving robustness of biometric identity determination with digital watermarking, Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering, vol. 2016, Article ID 6390741, doi:10.1155/2016/6390741

Luo C., Fylakis A., Partala J., Klakegg S., Goncalves J., Liang K., Seppänen T., Kostakos V. (2016), A Data Hiding Approach for Sensitive Smartphone Data, Proc. International Joint Conference on Pervasive and Ubiquitous Computing (UbiComp '16)

Partala J. (2016), Left conjugacy closed left quasigroups with pairwise distinct left translations, JP. J. Algebra Number Theory Appl. 36(1), 95-108

Partala J. (2015), Algebraic methods for cryptographic key exhange, Doctoral Dissertation, Acta Universitatis Ouluensis, Series C, Technica 519, University of Oulu, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Partala J., Keränen, N.; Särestöniemi, M.; Hämäläinen, M.; Iinatti, J.; Jämsä., T.; Reponen, J.; Seppänen, T. (2013), Security threats against the transmission chain of a medical health monitoring system, IEEE 15th International Conference on e-Health Networking, Applications & Services (Healthcom), pp.243-248, 9-12 Oct. 2013 doi: 10.1109/HealthCom.2013.6720675

Partala J. (2011) Key agreement based on homomorphisms of algebraic structures, Cryptology ePrint Archive, Report 2011/203

Partala J. (2009) A note on conjugacy search and racks, CoRR abs/0911.1891

Partala J., Seppänen T. (2008) On the Conjugacy Search Problem and Left Conjugacy Closed Loops, Appl. Algebra Engrg. Comm. Comput. 19(4), 311-322

Partala J., Seppänen T. (2007) ElGamal Encryption in Paige Loops, JP. J. Algebra Number Theory Appl. 7, 285-296

Others

Nguyen T. H., Partala J., Pirttikangas S. (2019), Blockchain-based Mobility-as-a-Service, 1st International Workshop on Edge of Things: Enabling Internet of Things Ecosystems through the Edge Computing (EoT 2019), The 28th International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (ICCCN 2019), Valencia, Spain.

Hyysalo, J., Harper, G., Sauvola, J., Keskinarkaus, A., Juuso, I., Salminen, M. Partala, J. (2017), Defining an Architecture for Evolving Environments, ACM Symposium on Applied Computing, April 2017

Hyysalo J., Harper G., Sauvola J., Keskinarkaus A., Juuso I., Salminen M., Partala J. (2017), Developing Architecture in Volatile Environments; Lessons Learned from a Biobank IT Infrastructure Project, Proc. of the 12th International Conference on Software Engineering Advances (ICSEA 2017), 95-104.

Särestöniemi M., Niemela V., Hämäläinen M., Iinatti J., Keränen N., Jämsä T.,Partala J., Seppänen T., Reponen J. (2014) Receiver performance evaluation on IEEE 802.15.6 based WBAN for monitoring Parkinson's disease, 8th International Symposium on Medical Information and Communication Technology (ISMICT), pp.1-5, 2-4 April 2014, doi: 10.1109/ISMICT.2014.6825220

Keränen, N., Särestöniemi, M., Partala, J., Hämäläinen, M., Reponen, J., Seppänen, T., Iinatti, J., Jämsä, T. (2013) IEEE802.15.6 -based multi-accelerometer WBAN system for monitoring Parkinson's disease, Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), 35th Annual International Conference of the IEEE, pp.1656-1659, 3-7 July 2013, doi: 10.1109/EMBC.2013.6609835

Siipo A., Laukka S. J., Seppänen T., Toivanen J., Partala J., Väyrynen E., Lehtihalmes M., Mattila P., Miettunen J. & Heikkilä J. (2010) The multi-technological analyses of learning in the future classroom: Preliminary Observatory Apparatus, Proc. 3rd International eLBa Science Conference, Fraunhofer Verlag, Stuttgart, 60-6.

Lahti T., Helen M., Vuorinen O., Väyrynen E., Partala J., Peltola J., Mäkelä S.-M. (2008) On enabling techniques for personal audio content management, Proceeding of the 1st ACM international conference on Multimedia information retrieval, 113-120

Theses

Partala J. (2015), Algebraic methods for cryptographic key exhange, Doctoral Dissertation, Acta Universitatis Ouluensis, Series C, Technica 519, University of Oulu, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Partala J. (2005), Using Non-associative Algebra to Encrypt Information, Master's Thesis (in Finnish), University of Oulu, Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, 73p.

Partala J. (2005), On the Order of Permutation Groups and Their Elements, Master's Thesis (in Finnish), University of Oulu, Department of Mathematical Sciences, 52p.

Contact Information

Juha Partala
P.O.Box 4500
FIN-90014 University of Oulu
FINLAND

E-mail: firstname.lastname@oulu.fi

Last updated: 5 April 2022.

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