10,101 research outputs found
Concurrently Non-Malleable Zero Knowledge in the Authenticated Public-Key Model
We consider a type of zero-knowledge protocols that are of interest for their
practical applications within networks like the Internet: efficient
zero-knowledge arguments of knowledge that remain secure against concurrent
man-in-the-middle attacks. In an effort to reduce the setup assumptions
required for efficient zero-knowledge arguments of knowledge that remain secure
against concurrent man-in-the-middle attacks, we consider a model, which we
call the Authenticated Public-Key (APK) model. The APK model seems to
significantly reduce the setup assumptions made by the CRS model (as no trusted
party or honest execution of a centralized algorithm are required), and can be
seen as a slightly stronger variation of the Bare Public-Key (BPK) model from
\cite{CGGM,MR}, and a weaker variation of the registered public-key model used
in \cite{BCNP}. We then define and study man-in-the-middle attacks in the APK
model. Our main result is a constant-round concurrent non-malleable
zero-knowledge argument of knowledge for any polynomial-time relation
(associated to a language in ), under the (minimal) assumption of
the existence of a one-way function family. Furthermore,We show time-efficient
instantiations of our protocol based on known number-theoretic assumptions. We
also note a negative result with respect to further reducing the setup
assumptions of our protocol to those in the (unauthenticated) BPK model, by
showing that concurrently non-malleable zero-knowledge arguments of knowledge
in the BPK model are only possible for trivial languages
Predictable arguments of knowledge
We initiate a formal investigation on the power of predictability for argument of knowledge systems for NP. Specifically, we consider private-coin argument systems where the answer of the prover can be predicted, given the private randomness of the verifier; we call such protocols Predictable Arguments of Knowledge (PAoK).
Our study encompasses a full characterization of PAoK, showing that such arguments can be made extremely laconic, with the prover sending a single bit, and assumed to have only one round (i.e., two messages) of communication without loss of generality.
We additionally explore PAoK satisfying additional properties (including zero-knowledge and the possibility of re-using the same challenge across multiple executions with the prover), present several constructions of PAoK relying on different cryptographic tools, and discuss applications to cryptography
Data Minimisation in Communication Protocols: A Formal Analysis Framework and Application to Identity Management
With the growing amount of personal information exchanged over the Internet,
privacy is becoming more and more a concern for users. One of the key
principles in protecting privacy is data minimisation. This principle requires
that only the minimum amount of information necessary to accomplish a certain
goal is collected and processed. "Privacy-enhancing" communication protocols
have been proposed to guarantee data minimisation in a wide range of
applications. However, currently there is no satisfactory way to assess and
compare the privacy they offer in a precise way: existing analyses are either
too informal and high-level, or specific for one particular system. In this
work, we propose a general formal framework to analyse and compare
communication protocols with respect to privacy by data minimisation. Privacy
requirements are formalised independent of a particular protocol in terms of
the knowledge of (coalitions of) actors in a three-layer model of personal
information. These requirements are then verified automatically for particular
protocols by computing this knowledge from a description of their
communication. We validate our framework in an identity management (IdM) case
study. As IdM systems are used more and more to satisfy the increasing need for
reliable on-line identification and authentication, privacy is becoming an
increasingly critical issue. We use our framework to analyse and compare four
identity management systems. Finally, we discuss the completeness and
(re)usability of the proposed framework
Assessing and augmenting SCADA cyber security: a survey of techniques
SCADA systems monitor and control critical infrastructures of national importance such as power generation and distribution, water supply, transportation networks, and manufacturing facilities. The pervasiveness, miniaturisations and declining costs of internet connectivity have transformed these systems from strictly isolated to highly interconnected networks. The connectivity provides immense benefits such as reliability, scalability and remote connectivity, but at the same time exposes an otherwise isolated and secure system, to global cyber security threats. This inevitable transformation to highly connected systems thus necessitates effective security safeguards to be in place as any compromise or downtime of SCADA systems can have severe economic, safety and security ramifications. One way to ensure vital asset protection is to adopt a viewpoint similar to an attacker to determine weaknesses and loopholes in defences. Such mind sets help to identify and fix potential breaches before their exploitation. This paper surveys tools and techniques to uncover SCADA system vulnerabilities. A comprehensive review of the selected approaches is provided along with their applicability
DoubleEcho: Mitigating Context-Manipulation Attacks in Copresence Verification
Copresence verification based on context can improve usability and strengthen
security of many authentication and access control systems. By sensing and
comparing their surroundings, two or more devices can tell whether they are
copresent and use this information to make access control decisions. To the
best of our knowledge, all context-based copresence verification mechanisms to
date are susceptible to context-manipulation attacks. In such attacks, a
distributed adversary replicates the same context at the (different) locations
of the victim devices, and induces them to believe that they are copresent. In
this paper we propose DoubleEcho, a context-based copresence verification
technique that leverages acoustic Room Impulse Response (RIR) to mitigate
context-manipulation attacks. In DoubleEcho, one device emits a wide-band
audible chirp and all participating devices record reflections of the chirp
from the surrounding environment. Since RIR is, by its very nature, dependent
on the physical surroundings, it constitutes a unique location signature that
is hard for an adversary to replicate. We evaluate DoubleEcho by collecting RIR
data with various mobile devices and in a range of different locations. We show
that DoubleEcho mitigates context-manipulation attacks whereas all other
approaches to date are entirely vulnerable to such attacks. DoubleEcho detects
copresence (or lack thereof) in roughly 2 seconds and works on commodity
devices
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