Anomalous Look at Provable Security

We observe that if a party breaks one cryptographic assumption, construction, or system, then it can reduce the trust in any other. This highlights a shortcoming in the common interpretation of the provable security paradigm that may lead to unwarranted trust. This may have practical implications. Then we argue that the provable security paradigm remains sound in applications provided that assumptions are made with care. We also strengthen the argument for the study of combiners and constructions based on generic assumptions, and transparent standardization processes in applied cryptography