The Random Oracle Methodology, Revisited

We take a critical look at the relationship between the security of cryptographic schemes in the Random Oracle Model, and the security of the schemes that result from implementing the random oracle by so called "cryptographic hash functions". The main result of this paper is a negative one: There exist signature and encryption schemes that are secure in the Random Oracle Model, but for which any implementation of the random oracle results in insecure schemes. In the process of devising the above schemes, we consider possible definitions for the notion of a "good implementation" of a random oracle, pointing out limitations and challenges.Comment: 31 page

Solution of linear ill-posed problems using random dictionaries

In the present paper we consider application of overcomplete dictionaries to solution of general ill-posed linear inverse problems. In the context of regression problems, there has been enormous amount of effort to recover an unknown function using such dictionaries. One of the most popular methods, lasso and its versions, is based on minimizing empirical likelihood and unfortunately, requires stringent assumptions on the dictionary, the, so called, compatibility conditions. Though compatibility conditions are hard to satisfy, it is well known that this can be accomplished by using random dictionaries. In the present paper, we show how one can apply random dictionaries to solution of ill-posed linear inverse problems. We put a theoretical foundation under the suggested methodology and study its performance via simulations

Phantom cascades: The effect of hidden nodes on information diffusion

Research on information diffusion generally assumes complete knowledge of the underlying network. However, in the presence of factors such as increasing privacy awareness, restrictions on application programming interfaces (APIs) and sampling strategies, this assumption rarely holds in the real world which in turn leads to an underestimation of the size of information cascades. In this work we study the effect of hidden network structure on information diffusion processes. We characterise information cascades through activation paths traversing visible and hidden parts of the network. We quantify diffusion estimation error while varying the amount of hidden structure in five empirical and synthetic network datasets and demonstrate the effect of topological properties on this error. Finally, we suggest practical recommendations for practitioners and propose a model to predict the cascade size with minimal information regarding the underlying network.Comment: Preprint submitted to Elsevier Computer Communication