756 research outputs found
Steganography from weak cryptography
We introduce a problem setting which we call ``the freedom fighters'
problem''. It subtly differs from the prisoners' problem. We propose a
steganographic method that allows Alice and Bob to fool Wendy the warden in
this setting. Their messages are hidden in encryption keys. The recipient has
no prior knowledge of these keys, and has to cryptanalyze ciphertexts in order
to recover them. We show an example of the protocol and give a partial security
analysis
The entropy of keys derived from laser speckle
Laser speckle has been proposed in a number of papers as a high-entropy
source of unpredictable bits for use in security applications. Bit strings
derived from speckle can be used for a variety of security purposes such as
identification, authentication, anti-counterfeiting, secure key storage, random
number generation and tamper protection. The choice of laser speckle as a
source of random keys is quite natural, given the chaotic properties of
speckle. However, this same chaotic behaviour also causes reproducibility
problems. Cryptographic protocols require either zero noise or very low noise
in their inputs; hence the issue of error rates is critical to applications of
laser speckle in cryptography. Most of the literature uses an error reduction
method based on Gabor filtering. Though the method is successful, it has not
been thoroughly analysed.
In this paper we present a statistical analysis of Gabor-filtered speckle
patterns. We introduce a model in which perturbations are described as random
phase changes in the source plane. Using this model we compute the second and
fourth order statistics of Gabor coefficients. We determine the mutual
information between perturbed and unperturbed Gabor coefficients and the bit
error rate in the derived bit string. The mutual information provides an
absolute upper bound on the number of secure bits that can be reproducibly
extracted from noisy measurements
Optimal symmetric Tardos traitor tracing schemes
For the Tardos traitor tracing scheme, we show that by combining the
symbol-symmetric accusation function of Skoric et al. with the improved
analysis of Blayer and Tassa we get further improvements. Our construction
gives codes that are up to 4 times shorter than Blayer and Tassa's, and up to 2
times shorter than the codes from Skoric et al. Asymptotically, we achieve the
theoretical optimal codelength for Tardos' distribution function and the
symmetric score function. For large coalitions, our codelengths are
asymptotically about 4.93% of Tardos' original codelengths, which also improves
upon results from Nuida et al.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figur
The fractional quantum Hall effect: Chern-Simons mapping, duality, Luttinger liquids and the instanton vacuum
We derive, from first principles, the complete Luttinger liquid theory of
abelian quantum Hall edge states. This theory includes the effects of disorder
and Coulomb interactions as well as the coupling to external electromagnetic
fields. We introduce a theory of spatially separated (individually conserved)
edge modes, find an enlarged dual symmetry and obtain a complete classification
of quasiparticle operators and tunneling exponents. The chiral anomaly on the
edge and Laughlin's gauge argument are used to obtain unambiguously the Hall
conductance. In resolving the problem of counter flowing edge modes, we find
that the long range Coulomb interactions play a fundamental role. In order to
set up a theory for arbitrary filling fractions we use the idea of a two
dimensional network of percolating edge modes. We derive an effective, single
mode Luttinger liquid theory for tunneling processes into the quantum Hall edge
which yields a continuous tunneling exponent . The network approach is
also used to re-derive the instanton vacuum or -theory for the plateau
transitions.Comment: 36 pages, 7 figures (eps
Flow-based reputation: more than just ranking
The last years have seen a growing interest in collaborative systems like
electronic marketplaces and P2P file sharing systems where people are intended
to interact with other people. Those systems, however, are subject to security
and operational risks because of their open and distributed nature. Reputation
systems provide a mechanism to reduce such risks by building trust
relationships among entities and identifying malicious entities. A popular
reputation model is the so called flow-based model. Most existing reputation
systems based on such a model provide only a ranking, without absolute
reputation values; this makes it difficult to determine whether entities are
actually trustworthy or untrustworthy. In addition, those systems ignore a
significant part of the available information; as a consequence, reputation
values may not be accurate. In this paper, we present a flow-based reputation
metric that gives absolute values instead of merely a ranking. Our metric makes
use of all the available information. We study, both analytically and
numerically, the properties of the proposed metric and the effect of attacks on
reputation values
Flow-based reputation with uncertainty: Evidence-Based Subjective Logic
The concept of reputation is widely used as a measure of trustworthiness
based on ratings from members in a community. The adoption of reputation
systems, however, relies on their ability to capture the actual trustworthiness
of a target. Several reputation models for aggregating trust information have
been proposed in the literature. The choice of model has an impact on the
reliability of the aggregated trust information as well as on the procedure
used to compute reputations. Two prominent models are flow-based reputation
(e.g., EigenTrust, PageRank) and Subjective Logic based reputation. Flow-based
models provide an automated method to aggregate trust information, but they are
not able to express the level of uncertainty in the information. In contrast,
Subjective Logic extends probabilistic models with an explicit notion of
uncertainty, but the calculation of reputation depends on the structure of the
trust network and often requires information to be discarded. These are severe
drawbacks.
In this work, we observe that the `opinion discounting' operation in
Subjective Logic has a number of basic problems. We resolve these problems by
providing a new discounting operator that describes the flow of evidence from
one party to another. The adoption of our discounting rule results in a
consistent Subjective Logic algebra that is entirely based on the handling of
evidence. We show that the new algebra enables the construction of an automated
reputation assessment procedure for arbitrary trust networks, where the
calculation no longer depends on the structure of the network, and does not
need to throw away any information. Thus, we obtain the best of both worlds:
flow-based reputation and consistent handling of uncertainties
The problem of Coulomb interactions in the theory of the quantum Hall effect
We summarize the main ingredients of a unifying theory for abelian quantum
Hall states. This theory combines the Finkelstein approach to localization and
interaction effects with the topological concept of an instanton vacuum as well
as Chern-Simons gauge theory. We elaborate on the meaning of a new symmetry
( invariance) for systems with an infinitely ranged interaction
potential. We address the renormalization of the theory and present the main
results in terms of a scaling diagram of the conductances.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures. To appear in Proceedings of the International
Conference "Mesoscopics and Strongly Correlated Electron Systems", July 2000,
Chernogolovka, Russi
The Library That Almost Wasn\u27t
The evolution of the CSUMB library, from its original conception as a \u27virtual library\u27 in 1994 through the planning and construction of a physical library that opened in 2008
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