Security Proofs for the BLT Signature Scheme

We present security proofs for the BLT signature scheme in the model, where hash functions are built from ideal components (random oracles, ideal ciphers, etc.). We show that certain strengthening of the Pre-image Awareness (PrA) conditions like boundedness of the extractor, and certain natural properties (balancedness and the so-called output one-wayness) of the hash function are sufficient for existential unforgeability of the BLT signature scheme

Post-Quantum Secure Time-Stamping

Krüptograafilisi ajatempliprotokolle kasutatakse tõestusena, et üks dokument eksisteeris enne teist. Postkvantkrüptograafiliselt turvalised ajatempliprotokollid uurivad, kas neid tõestusi on võimalik võltsida kasutades kvantarvuteid. Tegu on suuresti uurimata alaga, kuna võtmeta ajatempliprotokollides kasutatavates primitiivides pole seni leitud kvantarvutite kontekstis tõsiseid nõrkusi. Selles töös me defineerime, mis on post-kvant turvalised ajatempliprotokollid ning uurime kuidas klassikalised tulemused muutuvad uues raamistikus. Suur erinevus kvantvastaste puhul on see, et meil ei ole võimalik saada suvalise kvantalgoritmi mitut erinevat käivitust. Tänapäeval teadaolevad tagasipööramise võtted võimaldavad kvantalgoritmi tagasi pöörata ainult väga kindlatel tingimustel. Me uurime nende võtete kombineerimise võimalikkust ühe teoreemi tõestamiseks. Sellele teoreemile ei ole hetkel post-kvant standardmudelis ühtegi tõestust. Me pakume tõestuseta ühe tagasipööramise konstruktsiooni, mille abil võib osutuda teoreemi tõestamine võimalikuks. Me lisaks pakume välja ka minimaalse lahendamata probleemi, mis on esimene samm teoreemi formaalse tõestamiseni.Cryptographic timestamps are used as proof that a certain document existed before another. Post-quantum secure time-stamping examines whether these proofs can be forged using a quantum computer. The field is very unexplored as the primitives used in keyless time-stamping have not shown any serious weakness towards quantum computers. Until now no effort had been made towards formally defining post-quantum secure time-stamping. In this work, we define the notion of post-quantum time-stamping and examine how contemporary classical results change in this new framework. A key difference in the post-quantum setting is that we cannot retrieve multiple separate executions of an arbitrary quantum adversary. Currently known rewinding techniques allow an adversary to be ran again only under very specific conditions. We examine the possibility of combining existing rewinding techniques to prove a theorem for which there is currently no proof in the standard post-quantum model. We conjecture a rewinding construction which could possibly prove the theorem and establish a minimal open problem for formally proving the theorem

A Server-Assisted Hash-Based Signature Scheme

We present a practical digital signature scheme built from a cryptographic hash function and a hash-then-publish digital time- stamping scheme. We also provide a simple proof of existential unforgeability against adaptive chosen-message attack (EUF-ACM) in the random oracle (RO) model

Integrated-Key Cryptographic Hash Functions

Cryptographic hash functions have always played a major role in most cryptographic applications. Traditionally, hash functions were designed in the keyless setting, where a hash function accepts a variable-length message and returns a fixed-length fingerprint. Unfortunately, over the years, significant weaknesses were reported on instances of some popular ``keyless" hash functions. This has motivated the research community to start considering the dedicated-key setting, where a hash function is publicly keyed. In this approach, families of hash functions are constructed such that the individual members are indexed by different publicly-known keys. This has, evidently, also allowed for more rigorous security arguments. However, it turns out that converting an existing keyless hash function into a dedicated-key one is usually non-trivial since the underlying keyless compression function of the keyless hash function does not normally accommodate the extra key input. In this thesis we define and formalise a flexible approach to solve this problem. Hash functions adopting our approach are said to be constructed in the integrated-key setting, where keyless hash functions are seamlessly and transparently transformed into keyed variants by introducing an extra component accompanying the (still keyless) compression function to handle the key input separately outside the compression function. We also propose several integrated-key constructions and prove that they are collision resistant, pre-image resistant, 2nd pre-image resistant, indifferentiable from Random Oracle (RO), indistinguishable from Pseudorandom Functions (PRFs) and Unforgeable when instantiated as Message Authentication Codes (MACs) in the private key setting. We further prove that hash functions constructed in the integrated-key setting are indistinguishable from their variants in the conventional dedicated-key setting, which implies that proofs from the dedicated-key setting can be naturally reduced to the integrated-key setting.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

A New Approach to Constructing Digital Signature Schemes (Extended Paper)

A new hash-based, server-supported digital signature scheme was proposed recently. We decompose the concept into forward-resistant tags and a generic cryptographic time-stamping service. Based on the decomposition, we propose more tag constructions which allow efficient digital signature schemes with interesting properties to be built. In particular, the new schemes are more suitable for use in personal signing devices, such as smart cards, which are used infrequently. We define the forward-resistant tags formally and prove that (1) the discussed constructs are indeed tags and (2) combining such tags with time-stamping services gives us signature schemes

A Blockchain-Assisted Hash-Based Signature Scheme

We present a server-supported, hash-based digital signature scheme. To achieve greater efficiency than current state of the art, we relax the security model somewhat. We postulate a set of design requirements, discuss some approaches and their practicality, and finally reach a forward-secure scheme with only modest trust assumptions, achieved by employing the concepts of authenticated data structures and blockchains. The concepts of blockchain authenticated data structures and the presented blockchain design could have independent value and are worth further research

On Foundations of Protecting Computations

Information technology systems have become indispensable to uphold our way of living, our economy and our safety. Failure of these systems can have devastating effects. Consequently, securing these systems against malicious intentions deserves our utmost attention. Cryptography provides the necessary foundations for that purpose. In particular, it provides a set of building blocks which allow to secure larger information systems. Furthermore, cryptography develops concepts and tech- niques towards realizing these building blocks. The protection of computations is one invaluable concept for cryptography which paves the way towards realizing a multitude of cryptographic tools. In this thesis, we contribute to this concept of protecting computations in several ways. Protecting computations of probabilistic programs. An indis- tinguishability obfuscator (IO) compiles (deterministic) code such that it becomes provably unintelligible. This can be viewed as the ultimate way to protect (deterministic) computations. Due to very recent research, such obfuscators enjoy plausible candidate constructions. In certain settings, however, it is necessary to protect probabilistic com- putations. The only known construction of an obfuscator for probabilistic programs is due to Canetti, Lin, Tessaro, and Vaikuntanathan, TCC, 2015 and requires an indistinguishability obfuscator which satisfies extreme security guarantees. We improve this construction and thereby reduce the require- ments on the security of the underlying indistinguishability obfuscator. (Agrikola, Couteau, and Hofheinz, PKC, 2020) Protecting computations in cryptographic groups. To facilitate the analysis of building blocks which are based on cryptographic groups, these groups are often overidealized such that computations in the group are protected from the outside. Using such overidealizations allows to prove building blocks secure which are sometimes beyond the reach of standard model techniques. However, these overidealizations are subject to certain impossibility results. Recently, Fuchsbauer, Kiltz, and Loss, CRYPTO, 2018 introduced the algebraic group model (AGM) as a relaxation which is closer to the standard model but in several aspects preserves the power of said overidealizations. However, their model still suffers from implausibilities. We develop a framework which allows to transport several security proofs from the AGM into the standard model, thereby evading the above implausi- bility results, and instantiate this framework using an indistinguishability obfuscator. (Agrikola, Hofheinz, and Kastner, EUROCRYPT, 2020) Protecting computations using compression. Perfect compression algorithms admit the property that the compressed distribution is truly random leaving no room for any further compression. This property is invaluable for several cryptographic applications such as “honey encryption” or password-authenticated key exchange. However, perfect compression algorithms only exist for a very small number of distributions. We relax the notion of compression and rigorously study the resulting notion which we call “pseudorandom encodings”. As a result, we identify various surprising connections between seemingly unrelated areas of cryptography. Particularly, we derive novel results for adaptively secure multi-party computation which allows for protecting computations in distributed settings. Furthermore, we instantiate the weakest version of pseudorandom encodings which suffices for adaptively secure multi-party computation using an indistinguishability obfuscator. (Agrikola, Couteau, Ishai, Jarecki, and Sahai, TCC, 2020

Authentication enhancement in command and control networks: (a study in Vehicular Ad-Hoc Networks)

Intelligent transportation systems contribute to improved traffic safety by facilitating real time communication between vehicles. By using wireless channels for communication, vehicular networks are susceptible to a wide range of attacks, such as impersonation, modification, and replay. In this context, securing data exchange between intercommunicating terminals, e.g., vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, constitutes a technological challenge that needs to be addressed. Hence, message authentication is crucial to safeguard vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) from malicious attacks. The current state-of-the-art for authentication in VANETs relies on conventional cryptographic primitives, introducing significant computation and communication overheads. In this challenging scenario, physical (PHY)-layer authentication has gained popularity, which involves leveraging the inherent characteristics of wireless channels and the hardware imperfections to discriminate between wireless devices. However, PHY-layerbased authentication cannot be an alternative to crypto-based methods as the initial legitimacy detection must be conducted using cryptographic methods to extract the communicating terminal secret features. Nevertheless, it can be a promising complementary solution for the reauthentication problem in VANETs, introducing what is known as “cross-layer authentication.” This thesis focuses on designing efficient cross-layer authentication schemes for VANETs, reducing the communication and computation overheads associated with transmitting and verifying a crypto-based signature for each transmission. The following provides an overview of the proposed methodologies employed in various contributions presented in this thesis. 1. The first cross-layer authentication scheme: A four-step process represents this approach: initial crypto-based authentication, shared key extraction, re-authentication via a PHY challenge-response algorithm, and adaptive adjustments based on channel conditions. Simulation results validate its efficacy, especially in low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) scenarios while proving its resilience against active and passive attacks. 2. The second cross-layer authentication scheme: Leveraging the spatially and temporally correlated wireless channel features, this scheme extracts high entropy shared keys that can be used to create dynamic PHY-layer signatures for authentication. A 3-Dimensional (3D) scattering Doppler emulator is designed to investigate the scheme’s performance at different speeds of a moving vehicle and SNRs. Theoretical and hardware implementation analyses prove the scheme’s capability to support high detection probability for an acceptable false alarm value ≤ 0.1 at SNR ≥ 0 dB and speed ≤ 45 m/s. 3. The third proposal: Reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) integration for improved authentication: Focusing on enhancing PHY-layer re-authentication, this proposal explores integrating RIS technology to improve SNR directed at designated vehicles. Theoretical analysis and practical implementation of the proposed scheme are conducted using a 1-bit RIS, consisting of 64 × 64 reflective units. Experimental results show a significant improvement in the Pd, increasing from 0.82 to 0.96 at SNR = − 6 dB for multicarrier communications. 4. The fourth proposal: RIS-enhanced vehicular communication security: Tailored for challenging SNR in non-line-of-sight (NLoS) scenarios, this proposal optimises key extraction and defends against denial-of-service (DoS) attacks through selective signal strengthening. Hardware implementation studies prove its effectiveness, showcasing improved key extraction performance and resilience against potential threats. 5. The fifth cross-layer authentication scheme: Integrating PKI-based initial legitimacy detection and blockchain-based reconciliation techniques, this scheme ensures secure data exchange. Rigorous security analyses and performance evaluations using network simulators and computation metrics showcase its effectiveness, ensuring its resistance against common attacks and time efficiency in message verification. 6. The final proposal: Group key distribution: Employing smart contract-based blockchain technology alongside PKI-based authentication, this proposal distributes group session keys securely. Its lightweight symmetric key cryptography-based method maintains privacy in VANETs, validated via Ethereum’s main network (MainNet) and comprehensive computation and communication evaluations. The analysis shows that the proposed methods yield a noteworthy reduction, approximately ranging from 70% to 99%, in both computation and communication overheads, as compared to the conventional approaches. This reduction pertains to the verification and transmission of 1000 messages in total

Be More and be Merry: Enhancing Data and User Authentication in Collaborative Settings

Cryptography is the science and art of keeping information secret to un-intended parties. But, how can we determine who is an intended party and who is not? Authentication is the branch of cryptography that aims at confirming the source of data or at proving the identity of a person. This Ph.D. thesis is a study of different ways to perform cryptographic authentication of data and users. The main contributions are contained in the six papers included in this thesis and cover the following research areas: (i) homomorphic authentication; (ii) server-aided verification of signatures; (iii) distance-bounding authentication; and (iv) biometric authentication. The investigation flow is towards collaborative settings, that is, application scenarios where different and mutually distrustful entities work jointly for a common goal. The results presented in this thesis allow for secure and efficient authentication when more entities are involved, thus the title “be more and be merry”. Concretely, the first two papers in the collection are on homomorphic authenticators and provide an in-depth study on how to enhance existing primitives with multi- key functionalities. In particular, the papers extend homomorphic signatures and homomorphic message authentication codes to support computations on data authenticated using different secret keys. The third paper explores signer anonymity in the area of server-aided verification and provides new secure constructions. The fourth paper is in the area of distance-bounding authentication and describes a generic method to make existing protocols not only authenticate direct-neighbors, but also entities located two-hop away. The last two papers investigate the leakage of information that affects a special family of biometric authentication systems and how to combine verifiable computation techniques with biometric authentication in order to mitigate known attacks

Demystifying Internet of Things Security

Break down the misconceptions of the Internet of Things by examining the different security building blocks available in Intel Architecture (IA) based IoT platforms. This open access book reviews the threat pyramid, secure boot, chain of trust, and the SW stack leading up to defense-in-depth. The IoT presents unique challenges in implementing security and Intel has both CPU and Isolated Security Engine capabilities to simplify it. This book explores the challenges to secure these devices to make them immune to different threats originating from within and outside the network. The requirements and robustness rules to protect the assets vary greatly and there is no single blanket solution approach to implement security. Demystifying Internet of Things Security provides clarity to industry professionals and provides and overview of different security solutions What You'll Learn Secure devices, immunizing them against different threats originating from inside and outside the network Gather an overview of the different security building blocks available in Intel Architecture (IA) based IoT platforms Understand the threat pyramid, secure boot, chain of trust, and the software stack leading up to defense-in-depth Who This Book Is For Strategists, developers, architects, and managers in the embedded and Internet of Things (IoT) space trying to understand and implement the security in the IoT devices/platforms