Quantifying Equivocation for Finite Blocklength Wiretap Codes

This paper presents a new technique for providing the analysis and comparison of wiretap codes in the small blocklength regime over the binary erasure wiretap channel. A major result is the development of Monte Carlo strategies for quantifying a code's equivocation, which mirrors techniques used to analyze normal error correcting codes. For this paper, we limit our analysis to coset-based wiretap codes, and make several comparisons of different code families at small and medium blocklengths. Our results indicate that there are security advantages to using specific codes when using small to medium blocklengths.Comment: Submitted to ICC 201

Secrecy Coding for the Binary Symmetric Wiretap Channel via Linear Programming

In this paper, we use a linear programming (LP) optimization approach to evaluate the equivocation for a wiretap channel where the main channel is noiseless, and the wiretap channel is a binary symmetric channel (BSC). Using this technique, we present an analytical limit for the achievable secrecy rate in the finite blocklength regime that is tighter than traditional fundamental limits. We also propose a secrecy coding technique that outperforms random binning codes. When there is one overhead bit, this coding technique is optimum and achieves the analytical limit. For cases with additional bits of overhead, our coding scheme can achieve equivocation rates close to the new limit. Furthermore, we evaluate the patterns of the generator matrix and the parity-check matrix for linear codes and we present binning techniques for both linear and non-linear codes using two different approaches: recursive and non-recursive. To our knowledge, this is the first optimization solution for secrecy coding obtained through linear programming.Comment: Submitted for possible Journal publicatio

Subspace Decomposition of Coset Codes

A new method is explored for analyzing the performance of coset codes over the binary erasure wiretap channel (BEWC) by decomposing the code over subspaces of the code space. This technique leads to an improved algorithm for calculating equivocation loss. It also provides a continuous-valued function for equivocation loss, permitting proofs of local optimality for certain finite-blocklength code constructions, including a code formed by excluding from the generator matrix all columns which lie within a particular subspace. Subspace decomposition is also used to explore the properties of an alternative secrecy code metric, the chi squared divergence. The chi squared divergence is shown to be far simpler to calculate than equivocation loss. Additionally, the codes which are shown to be locally optimal in terms of equivocation are also proved to be globally optimal in terms of chi squared divergence.Comment: 36 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Transactions on Information Theor

Secure, reliable, and efficient communication over the wiretap channel

Secure wireless communication between devices is essential for modern communication systems. Physical-layer security over the wiretap channel may provide an additional level of secrecy beyond the current cryptographic approaches. Given a sender Alice, a legitimate receiver Bob, and a malicious eavesdropper Eve, the wiretap channel occurs when Eve experiences a worse signal-to-noise ratio than Bob. Previous study of the wiretap channel has tended to make assumptions that ignore the reality of wireless communication. This thesis presents a study of short block length codes with the aim of both reliability for Bob and confusion for Eve. The standard approach to wiretap coding is shown to be very inefficient for reliability. Quantifying Eve's confusion in terms of entropy is not solved in many cases, though it is possible for codes with a moderate complexity trellis representation. Using error rate arguments, error correcting codes with steep performance curves turn out to be desirable both for reliability and confusion.Masteroppgave i informatikkINF399MAMN-INFMAMN-PRO

Hiding Symbols and Functions: New Metrics and Constructions for Information-Theoretic Security

We present information-theoretic definitions and results for analyzing symmetric-key encryption schemes beyond the perfect secrecy regime, i.e. when perfect secrecy is not attained. We adopt two lines of analysis, one based on lossless source coding, and another akin to rate-distortion theory. We start by presenting a new information-theoretic metric for security, called symbol secrecy, and derive associated fundamental bounds. We then introduce list-source codes (LSCs), which are a general framework for mapping a key length (entropy) to a list size that an eavesdropper has to resolve in order to recover a secret message. We provide explicit constructions of LSCs, and demonstrate that, when the source is uniformly distributed, the highest level of symbol secrecy for a fixed key length can be achieved through a construction based on minimum-distance separable (MDS) codes. Using an analysis related to rate-distortion theory, we then show how symbol secrecy can be used to determine the probability that an eavesdropper correctly reconstructs functions of the original plaintext. We illustrate how these bounds can be applied to characterize security properties of symmetric-key encryption schemes, and, in particular, extend security claims based on symbol secrecy to a functional setting.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Information Theor

An Overview of Physical Layer Security with Finite-Alphabet Signaling

Providing secure communications over the physical layer with the objective of achieving perfect secrecy without requiring a secret key has been receiving growing attention within the past decade. The vast majority of the existing studies in the area of physical layer security focus exclusively on the scenarios where the channel inputs are Gaussian distributed. However, in practice, the signals employed for transmission are drawn from discrete signal constellations such as phase shift keying and quadrature amplitude modulation. Hence, understanding the impact of the finite-alphabet input constraints and designing secure transmission schemes under this assumption is a mandatory step towards a practical implementation of physical layer security. With this motivation, this article reviews recent developments on physical layer security with finite-alphabet inputs. We explore transmit signal design algorithms for single-antenna as well as multi-antenna wiretap channels under different assumptions on the channel state information at the transmitter. Moreover, we present a review of the recent results on secure transmission with discrete signaling for various scenarios including multi-carrier transmission systems, broadcast channels with confidential messages, cognitive multiple access and relay networks. Throughout the article, we stress the important behavioral differences of discrete versus Gaussian inputs in the context of the physical layer security. We also present an overview of practical code construction over Gaussian and fading wiretap channels, and we discuss some open problems and directions for future research.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials (1st Revision

An Overview of Physical Layer Security with Finite Alphabet Signaling

Providing secure communications over the physical layer with the objective of achieving secrecy without requiring a secret key has been receiving growing attention within the past decade. The vast majority of the existing studies in the area of physical layer security focus exclusively on the scenarios where the channel inputs are Gaussian distributed. However, in practice, the signals employed for transmission are drawn from discrete signal constellations such as phase shift keying and quadrature amplitude modulation. Hence, understanding the impact of the finite-alphabet input constraints and designing secure transmission schemes under this assumption is a mandatory step towards a practical implementation of physical layer security. With this motivation, this article reviews recent developments on physical layer security with finite-alphabet inputs. We explore transmit signal design algorithms for single-antenna as well as multi-antenna wiretap channels under different assumptions on the channel state information at the transmitter. Moreover, we present a review of the recent results on secure transmission with discrete signaling for various scenarios including multi-carrier transmission systems, broadcast channels with confidential messages, cognitive multiple access and relay networks. Throughout the article, we stress the important behavioral differences of discrete versus Gaussian inputs in the context of the physical layer security. We also present an overview of practical code construction over Gaussian and fading wiretap channels, and discuss some open problems and directions for future research