Variations of the McEliece Cryptosystem

Two variations of the McEliece cryptosystem are presented. The first one is based on a relaxation of the column permutation in the classical McEliece scrambling process. This is done in such a way that the Hamming weight of the error, added in the encryption process, can be controlled so that efficient decryption remains possible. The second variation is based on the use of spatially coupled moderate-density parity-check codes as secret codes. These codes are known for their excellent error-correction performance and allow for a relatively low key size in the cryptosystem. For both variants the security with respect to known attacks is discussed

Public Key Cryptography based on Semigroup Actions

A generalization of the original Diffie-Hellman key exchange in $(\Z/p\Z)^*$ 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

Enhancement of Nth degree truncated polynomial ring for improving decryption failure

Nth Degree Truncated Polynomial (NTRU) is a public key cryptosystem constructed in a polynomial ring with integer coefficients that is based on three main key integer parameters N; p and q. However, decryption failure of validly created ciphertexts may occur, at which point the encrypted message is discarded and the sender re-encrypts the messages using different parameters. This may leak information about the private key of the recipient thereby making it vulnerable to attacks. Due to this, the study focused on reduction or elimination of decryption failure through several solutions. The study began with an experimental evaluation of NTRU parameters and existing selection criteria by uniform quartile random sampling without replacement in order to identify the most influential parameter(s) for decryption failure, and thus developed a predictive parameter selection model with the aid of machine learning. Subsequently, an improved NTRU modular inverse algorithm was developed following an exploratory evaluation of alternative modular inverse algorithms in terms of probability of invertibility, speed of inversion and computational complexity. Finally, several alternative algebraic ring structures were evaluated in terms of simplification of multiplication, modular inversion, one-way function properties and security analysis for NTRU variant formulation. The study showed that the private key f and large prime q were the most influential parameters in decryption failure. Firstly, an extended parameter selection criteria specifying that the private polynomial f should be selected such that f(1) = 1, number of 1 coefficients should be one more or one less than -1 coefficients, which doubles the range of invertible polynomials thereby doubling the presented key space. Furthermore, selecting q 2:5754 f(1)+83:9038 gave an appropriate size q with the least size required for successful message decryption, resulting in a 33.05% reduction of the public key size. Secondly, an improved modular inverse algorithm was developed using the least squares method of finding a generalized inverse applying homomorphism of ring R and an (N x N) circulant matrix with integer coefficients. This ensured inversion for selected polynomial f except for binary polynomial having all 1 coefficients. This resulted in an increase of 48% to 51% whereby the number of invertible polynomials enlarged the key space and consequently improved security. Finally, an NTRU variant based on the ring of integers, Integer TRUncated ring (ITRU) was developed to address the invertiblity problem of key generation which causes decryption failure. Based on this analysis, inversion is guaranteed, and less pre-computation is required. Besides, a lower key generation computational complexity of O(N2) compared to O(N2(log2p+log2q)) for NTRU as well as a public key size that is 38% to 53% smaller, and a message expansion factor that is 2 to15 times larger than that of NTRU enhanced message security were obtained

New Public Key Cryptosystem (First Version)

In this article, we propose a new public key cryptosystem, called \textbf{NAB}. The most important features of NAB are that its security strength is no easier than the security issues of the NTRU cryptosystem~\cite{Hoffstein96} and the encryption/decryption process is very fast compared to the previous public key cryptosystems RSA~\cite{Rivest78amethod}, Elgamal~\cite{ElGamal85}, NTRU~\cite{Hoffstein96}. Since the NTRU cryptosystem~\cite{Hoffstein96} is still not known to be breakable using quantum computers, NAB is also the same. In addition, the expansion of the ciphertext is barely greater than the plaintext and the ratio of the bit-size of the ciphertext to the bit-size of the plaintext can be reduced to just over one. We suggest that NAB is an alternative to RSA~\cite{Rivest78amethod}, Elgamal~\cite{ElGamal85} and NTRU~\cite{Hoffstein96} cryptosystems

Cryptanalysis of protocols using (Simultaneous) Conjugacy Search Problem in certain Metabelian Platform Groups

There are many group-based cryptosystems in which the security relies on the difficulty of solving Conjugacy Search Problem (CSP) and Simultaneous Conjugacy Search Problem (SCSP) in their underlying platform groups. In this paper we give a cryptanalysis of these systems which use certain semidirect product of abelian groups

New Directions in Multivariate Public Key Cryptography

Most public key cryptosystems used in practice are based on integer factorization or discrete logarithms (in finite fields or elliptic curves). However, these systems suffer from two potential drawbacks. First, they must use large keys to maintain security, resulting in decreased efficiency. Second, if large enough quantum computers can be built, Shor\u27s algorithm will render them completely insecure. Multivariate public key cryptosystems (MPKC) are one possible alternative. MPKC makes use of the fact that solving multivariate polynomial systems over a finite field is an NP-complete problem, for which it is not known whether there is a polynomial algorithm on quantum computers. The main goal of this work is to show how to use new mathematical structures, specifically polynomial identities from algebraic geometry, to construct new multivariate public key cryptosystems. We begin with a basic overview of MPKC and present several significant cryptosystems that have been proposed. We also examine in detail some of the most powerful attacks against MPKCs. We propose a new framework for constructing multivariate public key cryptosystems and consider several strategies for constructing polynomial identities that can be utilized by the framework. In particular, we have discovered several new families of polynomial identities. Finally, we propose our new cryptosystem and give parameters for which it is secure against known attacks on MPKCs

Using LDGM Codes and Sparse Syndromes to Achieve Digital Signatures

In this paper, we address the problem of achieving efficient code-based digital signatures with small public keys. The solution we propose exploits sparse syndromes and randomly designed low-density generator matrix codes. Based on our evaluations, the proposed scheme is able to outperform existing solutions, permitting to achieve considerable security levels with very small public keys.Comment: 16 pages. The final publication is available at springerlink.co