On the Uniformity of Distribution of the Naor–Reingold Pseudo-Random Function

AbstractWe show that the new pseudo-random number function, introduced recently by M. Naor and O. Reingold, possesses one more attractive and useful property. Namely, it is proved that for almost all values of parameters it produces a uniformly distributed sequence. The proof is based on some recent bounds of character sums with exponential functions

On lattice profile of the elliptic curve linear congruential generators

Lattice tests are quality measures for assessing the intrinsic structure of pseudorandom number generators. Recently a new lattice test has been introduced by Niederreiter and Winterhof. In this paper, we present a general inequality that is satisfied by any periodic sequence. Then, we analyze the behavior of the linear congruential generators on elliptic curves (EC-LCG) under this new lattice test and prove that the EC-LCG passes it up to very high dimensions. We also use a result of Brandstätter and Winterhof on the linear complexity profile related to the correlation measure of order k to present lower bounds on the linear complexity profile of some binary sequences derived from the EC-LCG

Minimizing nfa's and regular expressions

AbstractWe show inapproximability results concerning minimization of nondeterministic finite automata (nfa's) as well as of regular expressions relative to given nfa's, regular expressions or deterministic finite automata (dfa's).We show that it is impossible to efficiently minimize a given nfa or regular expression with n states, transitions, respectively symbols within the factor o(n), unless P=PSPACE. For the unary case, we show that for any δ>0 it is impossible to efficiently construct an approximately minimal nfa or regular expression within the factor n1−δ, unless P=NP.Our inapproximability results for a given dfa with n states are based on cryptographic assumptions and we show that any efficient algorithm will have an approximation factor of at least npoly(logn). Our setup also allows us to analyze the minimum consistent dfa problem

Improved Pseudorandom Generators from Pseudorandom Multi-Switching Lemmas

We give the best known pseudorandom generators for two touchstone classes in unconditional derandomization: an $\varepsilon$-PRG for the class of size-$M$ depth-$d$ $\mathsf{AC}^0$ circuits with seed length $\log(M)^{d+O(1)}\cdot \log(1/\varepsilon)$, and an $\varepsilon$-PRG for the class of $S$-sparse $\mathbb{F}_2$ polynomials with seed length $2^{O(\sqrt{\log S})}\cdot \log(1/\varepsilon)$. These results bring the state of the art for unconditional derandomization of these classes into sharp alignment with the state of the art for computational hardness for all parameter settings: improving on the seed lengths of either PRG would require breakthrough progress on longstanding and notorious circuit lower bounds. The key enabling ingredient in our approach is a new \emph{pseudorandom multi-switching lemma}. We derandomize recently-developed \emph{multi}-switching lemmas, which are powerful generalizations of H{\aa}stad's switching lemma that deal with \emph{families} of depth-two circuits. Our pseudorandom multi-switching lemma---a randomness-efficient algorithm for sampling restrictions that simultaneously simplify all circuits in a family---achieves the parameters obtained by the (full randomness) multi-switching lemmas of Impagliazzo, Matthews, and Paturi [IMP12] and H{\aa}stad [H{\aa}s14]. This optimality of our derandomization translates into the optimality (given current circuit lower bounds) of our PRGs for $\mathsf{AC}^0$ and sparse $\mathbb{F}_2$ polynomials

08491 Abstracts Collection -- Theoretical Foundations of Practical Information Security

From 30.11. to 05.12.2008, the Dagstuhl Seminar 08491 ``Theoretical Foundations of Practical Information Security \u27\u27 was held in Schloss Dagstuhl~--~Leibniz Center for Informatics. During the seminar, several participants presented their current research, and ongoing work and open problems were discussed. Abstracts of the presentations given during the seminar as well as abstracts of seminar results and ideas are put together in this paper. The first section describes the seminar topics and goals in general. Links to extended abstracts or full papers are provided, if available