2,844 research outputs found
Applications of quantum message sealing
In 2003, Bechmann-Pasquinucci introduced the concept of quantum seals, a
quantum analogue to wax seals used to close letters and envelopes. Since then,
some improvements on the method have been found. We first review the current
quantum sealing techniques, then introduce and discuss potential applications
of quantum message sealing, and conclude with some discussion of the
limitations of quantum seals.Comment: Presented as SPIE paper 5815-25 at Quantum Information and
Computation III, part of the SPIE Defense & Security Symposium 200
Quantum attacks on Bitcoin, and how to protect against them
The key cryptographic protocols used to secure the internet and financial
transactions of today are all susceptible to attack by the development of a
sufficiently large quantum computer. One particular area at risk are
cryptocurrencies, a market currently worth over 150 billion USD. We investigate
the risk of Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, to attacks by quantum
computers. We find that the proof-of-work used by Bitcoin is relatively
resistant to substantial speedup by quantum computers in the next 10 years,
mainly because specialized ASIC miners are extremely fast compared to the
estimated clock speed of near-term quantum computers. On the other hand, the
elliptic curve signature scheme used by Bitcoin is much more at risk, and could
be completely broken by a quantum computer as early as 2027, by the most
optimistic estimates. We analyze an alternative proof-of-work called Momentum,
based on finding collisions in a hash function, that is even more resistant to
speedup by a quantum computer. We also review the available post-quantum
signature schemes to see which one would best meet the security and efficiency
requirements of blockchain applications.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures. For a rough update on the progress of Quantum
devices and prognostications on time from now to break Digital signatures,
see https://www.quantumcryptopocalypse.com/quantum-moores-law
Proving Erasure
It seems impossible to certify that a remote hosting service does not leak
its users' data --- or does quantum mechanics make it possible? We investigate
if a server hosting data can information-theoretically prove its definite
deletion using a "BB84-like" protocol. To do so, we first rigorously introduce
an alternative to privacy by encryption: privacy delegation. We then apply this
novel concept to provable deletion and remote data storage. For both tasks, we
present a protocol, sketch its partial security, and display its vulnerability
to eavesdropping attacks targeting only a few bits.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Theory and Practice of Cryptography and Network Security Protocols and Technologies
In an age of explosive worldwide growth of electronic data storage and communications, effective protection of information has become a critical requirement. When used in coordination with other tools for ensuring information security, cryptography in all of its applications, including data confidentiality, data integrity, and user authentication, is a most powerful tool for protecting information. This book presents a collection of research work in the field of cryptography. It discusses some of the critical challenges that are being faced by the current computing world and also describes some mechanisms to defend against these challenges. It is a valuable source of knowledge for researchers, engineers, graduate and doctoral students working in the field of cryptography. It will also be useful for faculty members of graduate schools and universities
Routing-Verification-as-a-Service (RVaaS): Trustworthy Routing Despite Insecure Providers
Computer networks today typically do not provide any mechanisms to the users
to learn, in a reliable manner, which paths have (and have not) been taken by
their packets. Rather, it seems inevitable that as soon as a packet leaves the
network card, the user is forced to trust the network provider to forward the
packets as expected or agreed upon. This can be undesirable, especially in the
light of today's trend toward more programmable networks: after a successful
cyber attack on the network management system or Software-Defined Network (SDN)
control plane, an adversary in principle has complete control over the network.
This paper presents a low-cost and efficient solution to detect misbehaviors
and ensure trustworthy routing over untrusted or insecure providers, in
particular providers whose management system or control plane has been
compromised (e.g., using a cyber attack). We propose
Routing-Verification-as-a-Service (RVaaS): RVaaS offers clients a flexible
interface to query information relevant to their traffic, while respecting the
autonomy of the network provider. RVaaS leverages key features of
OpenFlow-based SDNs to combine (passive and active) configuration monitoring,
logical data plane verification and actual in-band tests, in a novel manner
Secure migration of WebAssembly-based mobile agents between secure enclaves
Cryptography and security protocols are today commonly used to protect data at-rest and in-transit. In contrast, protecting data in-use has seen only limited adoption. Secure data transfer methods employed today rarely provide guarantees regarding the trustworthiness of the software and hardware at the communication endpoints.
The field of study that addresses these issues is called Trusted or Confidential Computing and relies on the use of hardware-based techniques. These techniques aim to isolate critical data and its processing from the rest of the system. More specifically, it investigates the use of hardware isolated Secure Execution Environments (SEEs) where applications cannot be tampered with during operation. Over the past few decades, several implementations of SEEs have been introduced, each based on a different hardware architecture. However, lately, the trend is to move towards architecture-independent SEEs.
As part of this, Huawei research project is developing a secure enclave framework that enables secure execution and migration of applications (mobile agents), regardless of the underlying architecture. This thesis contributes to the development of the framework by participating in the design and implementation of a secure migration scheme for the mobile agents. The goal is a scheme wherein it is possible to transfer the mobile agent without compromising the security guarantees provided by SEEs. Further, the thesis also provides performance measurements of the migration scheme implemented in a proof of concept of the framework
Enabling Use of Signal in a Disconnected Village Environment
A significant portion of the world still does not have a stable internet connection. Those people should have the ability to communicate with their loved ones who may not live near by or to share ideas with friends. To power this achievable reality, our lab has set out on making infrastructure for enabling delay tolerant applications. This network will communicate using existing smartphones that will relay the information to a connected environment. The proof of concept application our lab is using is Signal as it offers end to end encryption messaging and an open source platform our lab can develop
Ring-LWE:applications to cryptography and their efficient realization
© Springer International Publishing AG 2016. The persistent progress of quantum computing with algorithms of Shor and Proos and Zalka has put our present RSA and ECC based public key cryptosystems at peril. There is a flurry of activity in cryptographic research community to replace classical cryptography schemes with their post-quantum counterparts. The learning with errors problem introduced by Oded Regev offers a way to design secure cryptography schemes in the post-quantum world. Later for efficiency LWE was adapted for ring polynomials known as Ring-LWE. In this paper we discuss some of these ring-LWE based schemes that have been designed. We have also drawn comparisons of different implementations of those schemes to illustrate their evolution from theoretical proposals to practically feasible schemes
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