835 research outputs found
An efficient and secure RSA--like cryptosystem exploiting R\'edei rational functions over conics
We define an isomorphism between the group of points of a conic and the set
of integers modulo a prime equipped with a non-standard product. This product
can be efficiently evaluated through the use of R\'edei rational functions. We
then exploit the isomorphism to construct a novel RSA-like scheme. We compare
our scheme with classic RSA and with RSA-like schemes based on the cubic or
conic equation. The decryption operation of the proposed scheme turns to be two
times faster than RSA, and involves the lowest number of modular inversions
with respect to other RSA-like schemes based on curves. Our solution offers the
same security as RSA in a one-to-one communication and more security in
broadcast applications.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur
Using quantum key distribution for cryptographic purposes: a survey
The appealing feature of quantum key distribution (QKD), from a cryptographic
viewpoint, is the ability to prove the information-theoretic security (ITS) of
the established keys. As a key establishment primitive, QKD however does not
provide a standalone security service in its own: the secret keys established
by QKD are in general then used by a subsequent cryptographic applications for
which the requirements, the context of use and the security properties can
vary. It is therefore important, in the perspective of integrating QKD in
security infrastructures, to analyze how QKD can be combined with other
cryptographic primitives. The purpose of this survey article, which is mostly
centered on European research results, is to contribute to such an analysis. We
first review and compare the properties of the existing key establishment
techniques, QKD being one of them. We then study more specifically two generic
scenarios related to the practical use of QKD in cryptographic infrastructures:
1) using QKD as a key renewal technique for a symmetric cipher over a
point-to-point link; 2) using QKD in a network containing many users with the
objective of offering any-to-any key establishment service. We discuss the
constraints as well as the potential interest of using QKD in these contexts.
We finally give an overview of challenges relative to the development of QKD
technology that also constitute potential avenues for cryptographic research.Comment: Revised version of the SECOQC White Paper. Published in the special
issue on QKD of TCS, Theoretical Computer Science (2014), pp. 62-8
Public Key Cryptography based on Semigroup Actions
A generalization of the original Diffie-Hellman key exchange in
found a new depth when Miller and Koblitz suggested that such a protocol could
be used with the group over an elliptic curve. In this paper, we propose a
further vast generalization where abelian semigroups act on finite sets. We
define a Diffie-Hellman key exchange in this setting and we illustrate how to
build interesting semigroup actions using finite (simple) semirings. The
practicality of the proposed extensions rely on the orbit sizes of the
semigroup actions and at this point it is an open question how to compute the
sizes of these orbits in general and also if there exists a square root attack
in general. In Section 2 a concrete practical semigroup action built from
simple semirings is presented. It will require further research to analyse this
system.Comment: 20 pages. To appear in Advances in Mathematics of Communication
Doubly Perfect Nonlinear Boolean Permutations
Due to implementation constraints the XOR operation is widely used in order
to combine plaintext and key bit-strings in secret-key block ciphers. This
choice directly induces the classical version of the differential attack by the
use of XOR-kind differences. While very natural, there are many alternatives to
the XOR. Each of them inducing a new form for its corresponding differential
attack (using the appropriate notion of difference) and therefore block-ciphers
need to use S-boxes that are resistant against these nonstandard differential
cryptanalysis. In this contribution we study the functions that offer the best
resistance against a differential attack based on a finite field
multiplication. We also show that in some particular cases, there are robust
permutations which offers the best resistant against both multiplication and
exponentiation base differential attacks. We call them doubly perfect nonlinear
permutations
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