A study of the separating property in Reed-Solomon codes by bounding the minimum distance

The version of record is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10623-021-00988-zAccording to their strength, the tracing properties of a code can be categorized as frameproof, separating, IPP and TA. It is known that, if the minimum distance of the code is larger than a certain threshold then the TA property implies the rest. Silverberg et al. ask if there is some kind of tracing capability left when the minimum distance falls below the threshold. Under different assumptions, several papers have given a negative answer to the question. In this paper, further progress is made. We establish values of the minimum distance for which Reed-Solomon codes do not posses the separating property.This work has been supported by the Spanish Government Grant TCO-RISEBLOCK (PID2019-110224RB-I00) MINECO .Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

On codes for traceability schemes: constructions and bounds

A traceability or fingerprinting scheme is a cryptographic scheme that facilitates the identification of the source of leaked information. In a fingerprinting setting, a distributor delivers copies of a given content to a set of authorized users. If there are dishonest members (traitors) among them, the distributor can deter plain redistribution of the content by delivering a personalized, i.e., marked, copy to each user. The set of all user marks is known as a fingerprinting code. There is, however, another threat. If several traitors collude to create a copy that is a combination of theirs, then the pirated copy generated will contain a corrupted mark, which may obstruct the identification of traitors. This dissertation is about the study and analysis of codes for their use in traceability and fingerprinting schemes, under the presence of collusion attacks. Moreover, another of the main concerns in the present work will be the design of identification algorithms that run efficiently, i.e., in polynomial time in the code length. In Chapters 1 and 2, we introduce the topic and the notation used. We also discuss some properties that characterize fingerprinting codes known under the names of separating, traceability (TA), and identifiable parent property (IPP), which will be subject of research in the present work. Chapter 3 is devoted to the study of the Kötter-Vardy algorithm to solve a variety of problems that appear in fingerprinting schemes. The concern of the chapter is restricted to schemes based on Reed-Solomon codes. By using the Kötter-Vardy algorithm as the core part of the identification processes, three different settings are approached: identification in TA codes, identification in IPP codes and identification in binary concatenated fingerprinting codes. It is also discussed how by a careful setting of a reliability matrix, i.e., the channel information, all possibly identifiable traitors can be found. In Chapter 4, we introduce a relaxed version of separating codes. Relaxing the separating property lead us to two different notions, namely, almost separating and almost secure frameproof codes. From one of the main results it is seen that the lower bounds on the asymptotical rate for almost separating and almost secure frameproof codes are greater than the currently known lower bounds for ordinary separating codes. Moreover, we also discuss how these new relaxed versions of separating codes can be used to show the existence of families of fingerprinting codes of small error, equipped with polynomial-time identification algorithms. In Chapter 5, we present explicit constructions of almost secure frameproof codes based on weakly biased arrays. We show how such arrays provide us with a natural framework to construct these codes. Putting the results obtained in this chapter together with the results from Chapter 4, shows that there exist explicit constructions of fingerprinting codes based on almost secure frameproof codes with positive rate, small error and polynomial-time identification complexity. We remark that showing the existence of such explicit constructions was one of the main objectives of the present work. Finally, in Chapter 6, we study the relationship between the separating and traceability properties of Reed-Solomon codes. It is a well-known result that a TA code is an IPP code, and that an IPP code is a separating code. The converse of these implications is in general false. However, it has been conjectured for some time that for Reed-Solomon codes all three properties are equivalent. Giving an answer to this conjecture has importance in the field of fingerprinting, because a proper characterization of these properties is directly related to an upper bound on the code rate i.e., the maximum users that a fingerprinting scheme can allocate. In this chapter we investigate the equivalence between these properties, and provide a positive answer for a large number of families of Reed-Solomon codes.Un sistema de trazabilidad o de fingerprinting es un mecanismo criptogr afi co que permite identi car el origen de informaci on que ha sido fi ltrada. En el modelo de aplicación de estos sistemas, un distribuidor entrega copias de un determinado contenido a un conjunto de usuarios autorizados. Si existen miembros deshonestos (traidores) entre ellos, el distribuidor puede disuadir que realicen una redistribuci on ingenua del contenido entregando copias personalizadas, es decir, marcadas, a cada uno de los usuarios. El conjunto de todas las marcas de usuario se conoce como c ódigo de fingerprinting. No obstante, existe otra amenaza m as grave. Si diversos traidores confabulan para crear una copia que es una combinación de sus copias del contenido, entonces la copia pirata generada contendr a una marca corrompida que di ficultar a el proceso de identificaci on de traidores. Esta tesis versa sobre el estudio y an alisis de c odigos para su uso en sistemas de trazabilidad o de fi ngerprinting bajo la presencia de ataques de confabulaci on. Otra de las cuestiones importantes que se tratan es el diseño de algoritmos de identi caci on e ficientes, es decir, algoritmos que se ejecuten en tiempo polin omico en la longitud del c odigo. En los Cap tulos 1 y 2 presentamos el tema e introducimos la notaci on que utilizaremos. Tambi en presentaremos algunas propiedades que caracterizan los c odigos de fi ngerprinting, conocidas bajo los nombres de propiedad de separaci on, propiedad identi cadora de padres (IPP) y propiedad de trazabilidad (TA), que est an sujetas a estudio en este trabajo. El Cap tulo 3 est a dedicado al estudio del algoritmo de decodi caci on de lista con informaci on de canal de Kötter-Vardy en la resoluci on de determinados problemas que aparecen en sistemas de fingerprinting. El ambito de estudio del cap ítulo son sistemas basados en c odigos de Reed-Solomon. Empleando el algoritmo de Kötter-Vardy como parte central de los algoritmos de identifi caci on, se analizan tres propuestas en el cap ítulo: identi caci on en c odigos TA, identifi caci on en c odigos IPP e identifi caci on en c odigos de fingerprinting binarios concatenados. Tambi en se analiza c omo mediante un cuidadoso ajuste de una matriz de abilidad, es decir, de la informaci on del canal, se pueden encontrar a todos los traidores que es posible identi car e ficientemente. En el Capí tulo 4 presentamos una versi on relajada de los c odigos separables. Relajando la propiedad de separaci on nos llevar a a obtener dos nociones diferentes: c odigos cuasi separables y c odigos cuasi seguros contra incriminaciones. De los resultados principales se puede observar que las cotas inferiores de las tasas asint oticas para c odigos cuasi separables y cuasi seguros contra incriminaciones son mayores que las cotas inferiores actualmente conocidas para c odigos separables ordinarios. Adem as, tambi en estudiamos como estas nuevas familias de c odigos pueden utilizarse para demostrar la existencia de familias de c odigos de ngerprinting de baja probabilidad de error y dotados de un algoritmo de identi caci on en tiempo polin omico. En el Capí tulo 5 presentamos construcciones expl citas de c odigos cuasi seguros contra incriminaciones, basadas en matrices de bajo sesgo. Mostramos como tales matrices nos proporcionan una herramienta para construir dichos c odigos. Poniendo en com un los resultados de este cap tulo con los del Capí tulo 4, podemos ver que, bas andonos en c odigos cuasi seguros contra incriminaciones, existen construcciones expl ícitas de c odigos de fi ngerprinting de tasa positiva, baja probabilidad de error y con un proceso de identi caci on en tiempo polin omico. Demostrar que existen dichas construcciones expl citas era uno de los principales objetivos de este trabajo. Finalmente, en el Capí tulo 6, estudiamos la relaci on existente entre las propiedades de separaci on y trazabilidad de los c odigos de Reed-Solomon. Es un resultado bien conocido el hecho que un c odigo TA es un c odigo IPP, y que un c odigo IPP es un c odigo separable. Las implicaciones en el sentido opuesto son falsas en general. No obstante, existe una conjetura acerca de la equivalencia de estas tres propiedades en el caso de cóodigos de Reed-Solomon. Obtener una respuesta a esta conjetura es de una importancia relevante en el campo del fi ngerprinting, puesto que la caracterización de estas propiedades est a directamente relacionada con una cota superior en la tasa del c odigo, es decir, con el n umero de usuarios que puede gestionar un sistema de fi ngerprinting. En este cap ítulo investigamos esta equivalencia y proporcionamos una respuesta afirmativa para un gran n umero de familias de c odigos de Reed-Solomon. Los resultados obtenidos parecen sugerir que la conjetura es cierta

Collusion Resistive Framework for Multimedia Security

The recent advances in multimedia and Internet technology rises the need for multimedia security.The frequent distribution of multimedia content can cause security breach and violate copyright protection law.The legitimate user can come together to generate illegitimate copy to use it for unintended purpose.The most effective such kind of attack is collusion,involve group of user to contribute with their copies of content to generate a new copy. Fingerprinting,a unique mark is embedded have one to one corresponds with user,is the solution to tackle collusion attack problem.A colluder involve in collusion leaves its trace in alter copy,so the effectiveness of mounting a successful attack lies in how effectively a colluder alter the image by leaving minimum trace.A framework,step by step procedure to tackle collusion attack, involves fingerprint generation and embedding.Various fingerprint generation and embedding techniques are used to make collusion resistive framework effective.Spread spectrum embedding with coded modulation is most effective framework to tackle collusion attack problem.The spread spectrum framework shows high collusion resistant and traceability but it can be attacked with some special collusion attack like interleaving attack and combination of average attack.Various attacks have different post effect on multimedia in different domains. The thesis provide a detail analysis of various collusion attack in different domains which serve as basis for designing the framework to resist collusion.Various statistical and experimental resuslts are drwan to show the behavior of collusion attack.The thesis also proposed a framework here uses modified ECC coded fingerprint for generation and robust watermarking embedding using wave atom.The system shows high collusion resistance against various attack.Various experiments are are drawn and system shows high collusion resistance and much better performance than literature System

The attackers power boundaries for traceability of algebraic geometric codes on special curves

Под схемами широковещательного шифрования понимают такие протоколы распространения легально тиражируемой цифровой продукции, которые способны предотвратить несанкционированный доступ к распространяемым данным. Эти схемы широко используются как для распределённого хранения данных, так и для защиты данных при передаче по каналам связи, и исследование таких схем представляется актуальной задачей. Для предотвращения коалиционных атак в схемах широковещательного шифрования используются классы помехоустойчивых кодов со специальными свойствами, в частности c-FP- и c-TA-свойствами. Рассматривается задача оценки нижней и верхней границ мощности коалиции злоумышленников, в пределах которых алгеброгеометрические коды обладают этими свойствами. Ранее были получены границы для одноточечных алгеброгеометрических кодов на кривых общего вида. В работе эти границы уточняются для одноточечных кодов на кривых специального вида; в частности, для кодов на кривых, на которых имеется достаточно много классов эквивалентности после факторизации множества точек кривой по отношению равенства соответствующих координат

Collected results on semigroups, graphs and codes

In this thesis we present a compendium of _ve works where discrete mathematics play a key role. The _rst three works describe di_erent developments and applications of the semigroup theory while the other two have more independent topics. First we present a result on semigroups and code e_ciency, where we introduce our results on the so-called Geil-Matsumoto bound and Lewittes' bound for algebraic geometry codes. Following that, we work on semigroup ideals and their relation with the Feng-Rao numbers; those numbers, in turn, are used to describe the Hamming weights which are used in a broad spectrum of applications, i.e. the wire-tap channel of type II or in the t-resilient functions used in cryptography. The third work presented describes the non-homogeneous patterns for semigroups, explains three di_erent scenarios where these patterns arise and gives some results on their admissibility. The last two works are not as related as the _rst three but still use discrete mathematics. One of them is a work on the applications of coding theory to _ngerprinting, where we give results on the traitor tracing problem and we bound the number of colluders in a colluder set trying to hack a _ngerprinting mark made with a Reed-Solomon code. And _nally in the last work we present our results on scientometrics and graphs, modeling the scienti_c community as a cocitation graph, where nodes represent authors and two nodes are connected if there is a paper citing both authors simultaneously. We use it to present three new indices to evaluate an author's impact in the community

Cryptographic error correction

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2006.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 67-71).It has been said that "cryptography is about concealing information, and coding theory is about revealing it." Despite these apparently conflicting goals, the two fields have common origins and many interesting relationships. In this thesis, we establish new connections between cryptography and coding theory in two ways: first, by applying cryptographic tools to solve classical problems from the theory of error correction; and second, by studying special kinds of codes that are motivated by cryptographic applications. In the first part of this thesis, we consider a model of error correction in which the source of errors is adversarial, but limited to feasible computation. In this model, we construct appealingly simple, general, and efficient cryptographic coding schemes which can recover from much larger error rates than schemes for classical models of adversarial noise. In the second part, we study collusion-secure fingerprinting codes, which are of fundamental importance in cryptographic applications like data watermarking and traitor tracing. We demonstrate tight lower bounds on the lengths of such codes by devising and analyzing a general collusive attack that works for any code.by Christopher Jason Peikert.Ph.D

Computability Theory

Computability and computable enumerability are two of the fundamental notions of mathematics. Interest in effectiveness is already apparent in the famous Hilbert problems, in particular the second and tenth, and in early 20th century work of Dehn, initiating the study of word problems in group theory. The last decade has seen both completely new subareas develop as well as remarkable growth in two-way interactions between classical computability theory and areas of applications. There is also a great deal of work on algorithmic randomness, reverse mathematics, computable analysis, and in computable structure theory/computable model theory. The goal of this workshop is to bring together researchers representing different aspects of computability theory to discuss recent advances, and to stimulate future work

Perfect hash families, identifiable parent property codes and covering arrays

In letzter Zeit haben einige kombinatorische Strukturen und Codes eine Vielzahl verschiedener Anwendungen in der Kommunikationstechnik, Kryptographie, Netzwerktechnik und der Informatik gefunden. Der Zweck dieser Dissertation ist, offene Probleme im Zusammenhang mit verschiedenen kombinatorischen Objekten zu lösen, welche durch praktische Anwendungen im Bereich der Informatik und Kryptographie motiviert sind. Genauer gesagt, untersuchen wir perfect hash families, identifiable parent property codes und covering arrays. Perfect hash families sind kombinatorische Strukturen, die verschiedene praktische Anwendungen haben, so wie Compilerbau, Probleme der Komplexität von Schaltkreisen, Datenbank-Verwaltung, Betriebssysteme, derandomization probabilistischer Algorithmen und broadcast encryption. Wir konzentrieren uns auf explizite Konstruktionsverfahren für perfect hash families. Erstens liefern wir eine explizite rekursive Konstruktion einer unendlichen Klasse von perfect hash families mit dem besten bekannten asymptotischen Verhalten unter allen ähnlichen, bekannten Klassen. Zum zweiten stellen wir ein neues rekursives Konstruktionsverfahren vor, mit dessen Hilfe man gute perfect hash families für kleine Parameter erzeugen kann. Durch diese Methode erhalten wir eine unendliche Klasse von perfect hash families, die eine sehr große Menge von Parameter-Werten abdeckt. Weiterhin leiten wir eine neue untere Schranke für die minimale Anzahl von Hash-Funktionen her. Ein Vergleich der existierenden Schranken zeigt, dass unsere Schranke für einige Parameter-Bereiche schärfer ist als andere bekannte Schranken. Identifiable parent property codes (IPP) wurden entwickelt für die Anwendung in Verfahren, die urheberrechtlich geschützte digitale Daten gegen unerlaubte Kopien schützen, die gemeinsam von mehreren berechtigten Nutzern hergestellt werden. TA codes sind eine gut erforschte Teilmenge der IPP-Codes. Wir stellen zwei neue Konstruktionen für IPP-Codes vor. Unsere erste Konstruktion bietet eine unendlichen Klasse von IPP-Codes mit dem besten bekannten asymptotischen Verhalten unter allen ähnlichen Klassen in der Literatur. Weiterhin beweisen wir, dass diese Codes ein Verfahren zum Finden von Verrätern mit im Allgemeinen Laufzeit O(M) erlauben, wobei M die Code-Größe ist. Man beachte, dass vorher außer den TA-Codes keine IPP-Codes mit dieser Eigenschaft bekannt waren. Für einige unendliche Unterklassen dieser Codes kann man sogar noch schnellere Verfahren zum Aufspüren von Verrätern finden, mit Laufzeit poly(logM). Außerdem wird eine neue unendliche Klasse von IPP-Codes konstruiert, die gute IPP-Codes für nicht zu große Werte von n liefert, wobei n die Code-Länge bezeichnet. Diese Klasse von IPP-Codes deckt einen großen Bereich von Parameter-Werten ab. Weiterhin konstruieren wir eine große Klasse von w-TA-Codes, die eine positive Antwort auf ein offenes Existenzproblem geben. Covering arrays sind von vielen Wissenschaftlern intensiv untersucht worden, aufgrund ihrer zahlreichen Anwendungen in der Informatik, so wie Software- oder Schaltkreis-Testen, switching networks, Datenkompressions-Probleme, und etliche mathematische Anwendungen, so wie Differenz-Matrizen, Such-Theorie und Wahrheits-Funktionen. Wir untersuchen explizite Konstruktions-Methoden für t-covering arrays. Zuerst benutzen wir den Zusammenhang zwischen perfect hash families und covering arrays, um unendliche Familien von t-covering arrays zu finden, für die wir beweisen, dass sie besser sind als die augenblicklich bekannten probabilistischen Schranken für covering arrays. Diese Familien haben ein sehr gutes asymptotisches Verhalten. Zum zweiten liefern wir, angeregt durch ein Ergebnis von Roux und auch von einem kürzlich erzielten Ergebnis von Chateauneuf und Kreher für 3-covering arrays, verschiedene neue Konstruktionen für t-covering arrays, t >_ 4, die als eine Verallgemeinerung dieser Ergebnisse gesehen werden können

A generic framework to create and use QR codes and a usage case in the field of access control under Android

This project describes the development of a framework for secure exchange of secret information based on QR codes. The framework is programmed to be platform-independent. A possible usage scenario in the field of access control is described and a program to fit said scenario is presented, which runs on Android. Various design considerations are discussed and a number of possible off-the-label uses are considered. At the end, a road map for future improvements is presented. The present document has been drawn up to show the steps in the development of the framework in detail.El presente proyecto describe el desarrollo de un framework para el intercambio seguro de información secreta basado en códigos QR. El framework se desarrolla independientemente de la plataforma operativa. Se describe un posible uso en el ámbito del control de acceso y se presenta un programa ejemplo de su uso bajo Android. Se sustenta el diseño elegido y se presentan algunos posibles usos en otros ámbitos. Al final, se presenta una posible vía de futura evolución de la plataforma. El presente documento tiene como finalidad la presentación detallada de todos los pasos en el desarrollo del framework.Ingeniería Técnica en Sistemas de Telecomunicació

A Joint Coding and Embedding Framework for Multimedia Fingerprinting

Technology advancement has made multimedia content widely available and easy to process. These benefits also bring ease to unauthorized users who can duplicate and manipulate multimedia content, and redistribute it to a large audience. Unauthorized distribution of information has posed serious threats to government and commercial operations. Digital fingerprinting is an emerging technology to protect multimedia content from such illicit redistribution by uniquely marking every copy of the content distributed to each user. One of the most powerful attacks from adversaries is collusion attack where several different fingerprinted copies of the same content are combined together to attenuate or even remove the fingerprints. An ideal fingerprinting system should be able to resist such collusion attacks and also have low embedding and detection computational complexity, and require low transmission bandwidth. To achieve aforementioned requirements, this thesis presents a joint coding and embedding framework by employing a code layer for efficient fingerprint construction and leveraging the embedding layer to achieve high collusion resistance. Based on this framework, we propose two new joint-coding-embedding techniques, namely, permuted subsegment embedding and group-based joint-coding-embedding fingerprinting. We show that the proposed fingerprinting framework provides an excellent balance between collusion resistance, efficient construction, and efficient detection. The proposed joint coding and embedding techniques allow us to model both coded and non-coded fingerprinting under the same theoretical model, which can be used to provide guidelines of choosing parameters. Based on the proposed joint coding and embedding techniques, we then consider real-world applications, such as DVD movie mass distribution and cable TV, and develop practical algorithms to fingerprint video in such challenging practical settings as to accommodate more than ten million users and resist hundreds of users' collusion. Our studies show a high potential of joint coding and embedding to meet the needs of real-world large-scale fingerprinting applications. The popularity of the subscription based content services, such as cable TV, inspires us to study the content protection in such scenario where users have access to multiple contents and thus the colluders may pirate multiple movie signals. To address this issue, we exploit the temporal dimension and propose a dynamic fingerprinting scheme that adjusts the fingerprint design based on the detection results of previously pirated signals. We demonstrate the advantages of the proposed dynamic fingerprinting over conventional static fingerprinting. Other issues related to multimedia fingerprinting, such as fingerprinting via QIM embedding, are also discussed in this thesis