63,948 research outputs found
Signcryption schemes with threshold unsigncryption, and applications
The final publication is available at link.springer.comThe goal of a signcryption scheme is to achieve the same functionalities as encryption and signature together, but in a more efficient way than encrypting and signing separately. To increase security and reliability in some applications, the unsigncryption phase can be distributed among a group of users, through a (t, n)-threshold process. In this work we consider this task of threshold unsigncryption, which has received very few attention from the cryptographic literature up to now (maybe surprisingly, due to its potential applications). First we describe in detail the security requirements that a scheme for such a task should satisfy: existential unforgeability and indistinguishability, under insider chosen message/ciphertext attacks, in a multi-user setting. Then we show that generic constructions of signcryption schemes (by combining encryption and signature schemes) do not offer this level of security in the scenario of threshold unsigncryption. For this reason, we propose two new protocols for threshold unsigncryption, which we prove to be secure, one in the random oracle model and one in the standard model. The two proposed schemes enjoy an additional property that can be very useful. Namely, the unsigncryption protocol can be divided in two phases: a first one where the authenticity of the ciphertext is verified, maybe by a single party; and a second one where the ciphertext is decrypted by a subset of t receivers, without using the identity of the sender. As a consequence, the schemes can be used in applications requiring some level of anonymity, such as electronic auctions.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft
ID-based Ring Signature and Proxy Ring Signature Schemes from Bilinear Pairings
In 2001, Rivest et al. firstly introduced the concept of ring signatures. A
ring signature is a simplified group signature without any manager. It protects
the anonymity of a signer. The first scheme proposed by Rivest et al. was based
on RSA cryptosystem and certificate based public key setting. The first ring
signature scheme based on DLP was proposed by Abe, Ohkubo, and Suzuki. Their
scheme is also based on the general certificate-based public key setting too.
In 2002, Zhang and Kim proposed a new ID-based ring signature scheme using
pairings. Later Lin and Wu proposed a more efficient ID-based ring signature
scheme. Both these schemes have some inconsistency in computational aspect.
In this paper we propose a new ID-based ring signature scheme and a proxy
ring signature scheme. Both the schemes are more efficient than existing one.
These schemes also take care of the inconsistencies in above two schemes.Comment: Published with ePrint Archiv
Security and Privacy Issues in Wireless Mesh Networks: A Survey
This book chapter identifies various security threats in wireless mesh
network (WMN). Keeping in mind the critical requirement of security and user
privacy in WMNs, this chapter provides a comprehensive overview of various
possible attacks on different layers of the communication protocol stack for
WMNs and their corresponding defense mechanisms. First, it identifies the
security vulnerabilities in the physical, link, network, transport, application
layers. Furthermore, various possible attacks on the key management protocols,
user authentication and access control protocols, and user privacy preservation
protocols are presented. After enumerating various possible attacks, the
chapter provides a detailed discussion on various existing security mechanisms
and protocols to defend against and wherever possible prevent the possible
attacks. Comparative analyses are also presented on the security schemes with
regards to the cryptographic schemes used, key management strategies deployed,
use of any trusted third party, computation and communication overhead involved
etc. The chapter then presents a brief discussion on various trust management
approaches for WMNs since trust and reputation-based schemes are increasingly
becoming popular for enforcing security in wireless networks. A number of open
problems in security and privacy issues for WMNs are subsequently discussed
before the chapter is finally concluded.Comment: 62 pages, 12 figures, 6 tables. This chapter is an extension of the
author's previous submission in arXiv submission: arXiv:1102.1226. There are
some text overlaps with the previous submissio
A Practical Set-Membership Proof for Privacy-Preserving NFC Mobile Ticketing
To ensure the privacy of users in transport systems, researchers are working
on new protocols providing the best security guarantees while respecting
functional requirements of transport operators. In this paper, we design a
secure NFC m-ticketing protocol for public transport that preserves users'
anonymity and prevents transport operators from tracing their customers' trips.
To this end, we introduce a new practical set-membership proof that does not
require provers nor verifiers (but in a specific scenario for verifiers) to
perform pairing computations. It is therefore particularly suitable for our
(ticketing) setting where provers hold SIM/UICC cards that do not support such
costly computations. We also propose several optimizations of Boneh-Boyen type
signature schemes, which are of independent interest, increasing their
performance and efficiency during NFC transactions. Our m-ticketing protocol
offers greater flexibility compared to previous solutions as it enables the
post-payment and the off-line validation of m-tickets. By implementing a
prototype using a standard NFC SIM card, we show that it fulfils the stringent
functional requirement imposed by transport operators whilst using strong
security parameters. In particular, a validation can be completed in 184.25 ms
when the mobile is switched on, and in 266.52 ms when the mobile is switched
off or its battery is flat
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