PQC Cloudization: Rapid Prototyping of Scalable NTT/INTT Architecture to Accelerate Kyber

The advent of quantum computers poses a serious challenge to the security of cloud infrastructures and services, as they can potentially break the existing public-key cryptosystems, such as Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA) and Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). Even though the gap between today’s quantum computers and the threats they pose to current public-key cryptography is large, the cloud landscape should act proactively and initiate the transition to the post-quantum era as early as possible. To comply with that, the U.S. government issued a National Security Memorandum in May 2022 that mandated federal agencies to migrate to post-quantum cryptosystems (PQC) by 2035. To ensure the long-term security of cloud computing, it is imperative to develop and deploy PQC resistant to quantum attacks. A promising class of post-quantum cryptosystems is based on lattice problems, which require polynomial arithmetic. In this paper, we propose and implement a scalable number-theoretic transform (NTT) architecture that significantly enhances the performance of polynomial multiplication. Our proposed design exploits multi-levels of parallelism to accelerate the NTT computation on reconfigurable hardware. We use the high-level synthesis (HLS) method to implement our design, which allows us to describe the NTT algorithm in a high-level language and automatically generate optimized hardware code. HLS facilitates rapid prototyping and enables us to explore different design spaces and trade-offs on the hardware platforms. Our experimental results show that our design achieves 11$\times$ speedup compared to the state-of-the-art requiring only 14 clock cycles for an NTT computation over a polynomial of degree 256. To demonstrate the applicability of our design, we also present a coprocessor architecture for Kyber, a key encapsulation mechanism (KEM) chosen by the NIST post-quantum standardization process, that utilizes our scalable NTT core

Comparison of dietary profile of a rural south Indian population with the current dietary recommendations for prevention of non-communicable diseases (CURES 147)

Background & objectives: Despite the rising prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in rural India, data on the dietary profile of the rural Indian population in relation to the recommendations for prevention of NCDs are scarce. This study was conducted to assess the dietary intake of a rural south Indian population in relation to the current dietary recommendations for the prevention of NCDs. Methods: The dietary profiles of 6907 adults aged ≥ 20 yr, from a cluster of 42 villages in Kancheepuram district of Tamil Nadu State in southern India, were assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Results: The prevalence of general obesity was 27.4 per cent and that of abdominal obesity, 14.0 per cent among this rural population. The median daily energy intake of the population was 2034 (IQR 543) kcals. More than 3/4 th of the calories (78.1%) were provided by carbohydrates. Refined cereals, mainly polished rice, was the major contributor to total calories. About 45 per cent of the population did not meet WHO recommendation for protein due to low intake of pulses, flesh foods and dairy products and more than half (57.1%) exceeded the limit of salt intake; 99 per cent of the population did not meet WHO recommendations for fruits and vegetables and 100 per cent did not meet the requirement of n-3 poly unsaturated fatty acids. Interpretation & conclusions: The dietary profile of this rural south Indian population reflected unhealthy choices, with the high consumption of refined cereals in the form of polished white rice and low intake of protective foods like fruits, vegetables, n-3 poly and monounsaturated fatty acids. This could potentially contribute to the increase in prevalence of NCDs like diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases in rural areas and calls for appropriate remedial action

Causes and predictors of mortality in Asian Indians with and without diabetes-10 year follow-up of the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES - 150).

BACKGROUND:The incidence and prevalence of diabetes is increasing worldwide and it is the fifth leading cause of mortality accounting for over 3.8 million deaths annually. Despite the enormity of the diabetes-related health burdens, very few studies have evaluated the factors associated with mortality among people with diabetes in India. We sought to study the causes and predictors of mortality among urban Asian Indians with and without diabetes. METHODS AND FINDINGS:Of 2273 adults (27,850 person-years of follow-up) from the 10-year follow-up of the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES), the cause of death could be ascertained in 552 individuals out of the 671 who had died (response rate 82.3%). Verbal autopsy was obtained from the family members of the deceased and this was adjudicated by trained physicians. The age-standardized mortality rate was 28.2 (95%CI 25.9-30.6) per 100,000 population. Mortality rates were significantly higher in individuals with diabetes compared to those without [27.9(95% CI 25.5-30.6) vs. 8.0 (6.6-9.9) per 1000 person years]. Compared to individuals of normal body mass index, underweight individuals had higher risk of mortality (Hazard ratio 1.49; 95% CI 1.11-2.0), whereas overweight and obese individuals did not show a higher risk. The population-attributable risk for all-cause mortality in the entire study cohort was highest for ischemic heart disease and diabetes. The excess mortality attributable to diabetes was highest in the age group of 51 to 70 years, and was mostly accounted for by renal disease (Rate ratio 5.68, 95%CI 2.43-6.23), ischemic heart disease (4.23,2.78-6.67), and cerebrovascular disease (4.00,1.87-9.81). CONCLUSION:Underweight (but not overweight or obesity) was strongly associated with mortality in this Asian Indian population. Ischemic heart disease and diabetes contributed the most to risk for all cause mortality. Excess mortality due to diabetes was higher in relatively younger individuals and was mostly accounted for by renal disease

Hazard ratios of various risk factors for all-cause mortality among subjects with and without diabetes.

<p>Hazard ratios of various risk factors for all-cause mortality among subjects with and without diabetes.</p

Causes of death in those with and without diabetes.

<p>Causes of death in those with and without diabetes.</p

Baseline characteristics of subjects with and without diabetes among the study cohort.

<p>Baseline characteristics of subjects with and without diabetes among the study cohort.</p

Hazard ratios of various risk factors for all-cause mortality in the overall study cohort.

<p>Hazard ratios of various risk factors for all-cause mortality in the overall study cohort.</p

Hazard ratios for all-cause mortality based on BMI.

<p>Hazard ratios for all-cause mortality based on BMI.</p

Partial population attributable risk for all-cause mortality in the study cohort.

<p>Partial population attributable risk for all-cause mortality in the study cohort.</p