Elliptic Curve Cryptography on Modern Processor Architectures

Abstract Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) has been adopted by the US National Security Agency (NSA) in Suite "B" as part of its "Cryptographic Modernisation Program ". Additionally, it has been favoured by an entire host of mobile devices due to its superior performance characteristics. ECC is also the building block on which the exciting field of pairing/identity based cryptography is based. This widespread use means that there is potentially a lot to be gained by researching efficient implementations on modern processors such as IBM's Cell Broadband Engine and Philip's next generation smart card cores. ECC operations can be thought of as a pyramid of building blocks, from instructions on a core, modular operations on a finite field, point addition & doubling, elliptic curve scalar multiplication to application level protocols. In this thesis we examine an implementation of these components for ECC focusing on a range of optimising techniques for the Cell's SPU and the MIPS smart card. We show significant performance improvements that can be achieved through of adoption of EC

Cryptographic Pairings: Efficiency and DLP security

This thesis studies two important aspects of the use of pairings in cryptography, efficient algorithms and security. Pairings are very useful tools in cryptography, originally used for the cryptanalysis of elliptic curve cryptography, they are now used in key exchange protocols, signature schemes and Identity-based cryptography. This thesis comprises of two parts: Security and Efficient Algorithms. In Part I: Security, the security of pairing-based protocols is considered, with a thorough examination of the Discrete Logarithm Problem (DLP) as it occurs in PBC. Results on the relationship between the two instances of the DLP will be presented along with a discussion about the appropriate selection of parameters to ensure particular security level. In Part II: Efficient Algorithms, some of the computational issues which arise when using pairings in cryptography are addressed. Pairings can be computationally expensive, so the Pairing-Based Cryptography (PBC) research community is constantly striving to find computational improvements for all aspects of protocols using pairings. The improvements given in this section contribute towards more efficient methods for the computation of pairings, and increase the efficiency of operations necessary in some pairing-based protocol

Developing an Automatic Generation Tool for Cryptographic Pairing Functions

Pairing-Based Cryptography is receiving steadily more attention from industry, mainly because of the increasing interest in Identity-Based protocols. Although there are plenty of applications, efficiently implementing the pairing functions is often difficult as it requires more knowledge than previous cryptographic primitives. The author presents a tool for automatically generating optimized code for the pairing functions which can be used in the construction of such cryptographic protocols. In the following pages I present my work done on the construction of pairing function code, its optimizations and how their construction can be automated to ease the work of the protocol implementer. Based on the user requirements and the security level, the created cryptographic compiler chooses and constructs the appropriate elliptic curve. It identifies the supported pairing function: the Tate, ate, R-ate or pairing lattice/optimal pairing, and its optimized parameters. Using artificial intelligence algorithms, it generates optimized code for the final exponentiation and for hashing a point to the required group using the parametrisation of the chosen family of curves. Support for several multi-precision libraries has been incorporated: Magma, MIRACL and RELIC are already included, but more are possible

Computing Bilinear Pairings on Elliptic Curves with Automorphisms

In this paper, we present a novel method for constructing a super-optimal pairing with great efficiency, which we call the omega pairing. The computation of the omega pairing requires the simple final exponentiation and short loop length in Miller\u27s algorithm which leads to a significant improvement over the previously known techniques on certain pairing-friendly curves. Experimental results show that the omega pairing is about 22% faster and 19% faster than the super-optimal pairing proposed by Scott at security level of AES 80 bits on certain pairing-friendly curves in affine coordinate systems and projective coordinate systems, respectively

Pairings in Cryptology: efficiency, security and applications

Abstract The study of pairings can be considered in so many di�erent ways that it may not be useless to state in a few words the plan which has been adopted, and the chief objects at which it has aimed. This is not an attempt to write the whole history of the pairings in cryptology, or to detail every discovery, but rather a general presentation motivated by the two main requirements in cryptology; e�ciency and security. Starting from the basic underlying mathematics, pairing maps are con- structed and a major security issue related to the question of the minimal embedding �eld [12]1 is resolved. This is followed by an exposition on how to compute e�ciently the �nal exponentiation occurring in the calculation of a pairing [124]2 and a thorough survey on the security of the discrete log- arithm problem from both theoretical and implementational perspectives. These two crucial cryptologic requirements being ful�lled an identity based encryption scheme taking advantage of pairings [24]3 is introduced. Then, perceiving the need to hash identities to points on a pairing-friendly elliptic curve in the more general context of identity based cryptography, a new technique to efficiently solve this practical issue is exhibited. Unveiling pairings in cryptology involves a good understanding of both mathematical and cryptologic principles. Therefore, although �rst pre- sented from an abstract mathematical viewpoint, pairings are then studied from a more practical perspective, slowly drifting away toward cryptologic applications