Abstract

In this note we offer a perspective on the virtues and limitations of several logics for cryptographic protocols focusing primarily on the logics of authentication. We emphasize the scope limitations of these logics rather than their virtues because (1) we consider their virtues to be better understood and accepted than their limitations, and (2) we hope to stimulate further research that will expand their scope. 1 Introduction Advances in the formal analysis of authentication protocols, based primarily on the logic of authentication of Burrows, Abadi, and Needham [2,4], have stimulated interest in the development of new logics for analysis of other aspects of cryptographic protocols, such as message-meaning recognition [9,10] and message secrecy or privacy [6], not just for authentication. The use of these logics can be hampered, to some extent, by the difficulty of delimiting their usefulness in practical applications. The limited application scope of these logics can be easily misu...

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