2,666 research outputs found
Limits to Non-Malleability
There have been many successes in constructing explicit non-malleable codes for various classes of tampering functions in recent years, and strong existential results are also known. In this work we ask the following question:
When can we rule out the existence of a non-malleable code for a tampering class ??
First, we start with some classes where positive results are well-known, and show that when these classes are extended in a natural way, non-malleable codes are no longer possible. Specifically, we show that no non-malleable codes exist for any of the following tampering classes:
- Functions that change d/2 symbols, where d is the distance of the code;
- Functions where each input symbol affects only a single output symbol;
- Functions where each of the n output bits is a function of n-log n input bits.
Furthermore, we rule out constructions of non-malleable codes for certain classes ? via reductions to the assumption that a distributional problem is hard for ?, that make black-box use of the tampering functions in the proof. In particular, this yields concrete obstacles for the construction of efficient codes for NC, even assuming average-case variants of P ? NC
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
Random Oracles in a Quantum World
The interest in post-quantum cryptography - classical systems that remain
secure in the presence of a quantum adversary - has generated elegant proposals
for new cryptosystems. Some of these systems are set in the random oracle model
and are proven secure relative to adversaries that have classical access to the
random oracle. We argue that to prove post-quantum security one needs to prove
security in the quantum-accessible random oracle model where the adversary can
query the random oracle with quantum states.
We begin by separating the classical and quantum-accessible random oracle
models by presenting a scheme that is secure when the adversary is given
classical access to the random oracle, but is insecure when the adversary can
make quantum oracle queries. We then set out to develop generic conditions
under which a classical random oracle proof implies security in the
quantum-accessible random oracle model. We introduce the concept of a
history-free reduction which is a category of classical random oracle
reductions that basically determine oracle answers independently of the history
of previous queries, and we prove that such reductions imply security in the
quantum model. We then show that certain post-quantum proposals, including ones
based on lattices, can be proven secure using history-free reductions and are
therefore post-quantum secure. We conclude with a rich set of open problems in
this area.Comment: 38 pages, v2: many substantial changes and extensions, merged with a
related paper by Boneh and Zhandr
Programmable hash functions and their applications
We introduce a new combinatorial primitive called *programmable hash functions* (PHFs). PHFs can be used to *program* the output of a hash function such that it contains solved or unsolved discrete logarithm instances with a certain probability. This is a technique originally used for security proofs in the random oracle model. We give a variety of *standard model* realizations of PHFs (with different parameters).
The programmability makes PHFs a suitable tool to obtain black-box proofs of cryptographic protocols when considering adaptive attacks. We propose generic digital signature schemes from the strong RSA problem and from some hardness assumption on bilinear maps that can be
instantiated with any PHF. Our schemes offer various improvements over known constructions. In particular, for a reasonable choice of parameters, we obtain short standard model digital signatures over bilinear maps
Pairing-based identification schemes
We propose four different identification schemes that make use of bilinear
pairings, and prove their security under certain computational assumptions.
Each of the schemes is more efficient and/or more secure than any known
pairing-based identification scheme
A tight security reduction in the quantum random oracle model for code-based signature schemes
Quantum secure signature schemes have a lot of attention recently, in
particular because of the NIST call to standardize quantum safe cryptography.
However, only few signature schemes can have concrete quantum security because
of technical difficulties associated with the Quantum Random Oracle Model
(QROM). In this paper, we show that code-based signature schemes based on the
full domain hash paradigm can behave very well in the QROM i.e. that we can
have tight security reductions. We also study quantum algorithms related to the
underlying code-based assumption. Finally, we apply our reduction to a concrete
example: the SURF signature scheme. We provide parameters for 128 bits of
quantum security in the QROM and show that the obtained parameters are
competitive compared to other similar quantum secure signature schemes
Divisibility, Smoothness and Cryptographic Applications
This paper deals with products of moderate-size primes, familiarly known as
smooth numbers. Smooth numbers play a crucial role in information theory,
signal processing and cryptography.
We present various properties of smooth numbers relating to their
enumeration, distribution and occurrence in various integer sequences. We then
turn our attention to cryptographic applications in which smooth numbers play a
pivotal role
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