Decorrelation: A Theory for Block Cipher Security

Pseudorandomness is a classical model for the security of block ciphers. In this paper we propose convenient tools in order to study it in connection with the Shannon Theory, the Carter-Wegman universal hash functions paradigm, and the Luby-Rackoff approach. This enables the construction of new ciphers with security proofs under specific models. We show how to ensure security against basic differential and linear cryptanalysis and even more general attacks. We propose practical construction scheme

Expected loss analysis of thresholded authentication protocols in noisy conditions

A number of authentication protocols have been proposed recently, where at least some part of the authentication is performed during a phase, lasting $n$ rounds, with no error correction. This requires assigning an acceptable threshold for the number of detected errors. This paper describes a framework enabling an expected loss analysis for all the protocols in this family. Furthermore, computationally simple methods to obtain nearly optimal value of the threshold, as well as for the number of rounds is suggested. Finally, a method to adaptively select both the number of rounds and the threshold is proposed.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures; draf

Post-Compromise Security in Self-Encryption

In self-encryption, a device encrypts some piece of information for itself to decrypt in the future. We are interested in security of self-encryption when the state occasionally leaks. Applications that use self-encryption include cloud storage, when a client encrypts files to be stored, and in 0-RTT session resumptions, when a server encrypts a resumption key to be kept by the client. Previous works focused on forward security and resistance to replay attacks. In our work, we study post-compromise security (PCS). PCS was achieved in ratcheted instant messaging schemes, at the price of having an inflating state size. An open question was whether state inflation was necessary. In our results, we prove that post-compromise security implies a super-linear state size in terms of the number of active ciphertexts which can still be decrypted. We apply our result to self-encryption for cloud storage, 0-RTT session resumption, and secure messaging. We further show how to construct a secure scheme matching our bound on the state size up to a constant factor

Towards a Theory of Symmetric Encryption

Motivée par le commerce et l'industrie, la recherche publique dans le domaine du chiffrement symétrique s'est considérablement développée depuis vingt cinq ans si bien qu'il est maintenant possible d'en faire le bilan. La recherche a tout d'abord progressé de manière empirique. De nombreux algorithmes de chiffrement fondés sur la notion de réseau de substitutions et de permutations ont été proposés, suivis d'attaques dédiées contre eux. Cela a permis de définir des stratégies générales: les méthodes d'attaques différentielles, linéaires et statistiques, et les méthodes génériques fondées sur la notion de boîte noire. En modélisant ces attaques on a trouvé en retour des règles utiles dans la conception d'algorithmes sûrs: la notion combinatoire de multipermutation pour les fonctions élémentaires, le contrôle de la diffusion par des critères géométriques de réseau de calcul, l'étude algébrique de la non-linéarité, ... Enfin, on montre que la sécurité face à un grand nombre de classes d'attaques classiques est assurée grâce à la notion de décorrélation par une preuve formelle. Ces principes sont à l'origine de deux algorithmes particuliers: la fonction CS-Cipher qui permet un chiffrement à haut débit et une sécurité heuristique, et le candidat DFC au processus de standardisation AES, prototype d'algorithme fondé sur la notion de décorrélation

CBC Padding: Security Flaws in SSL, IPSEC, WTLS, ...

In many standards, e.g. SSL/TLS, IPSEC, WTLS, messages are first pre-formatted, then encrypted in CBC mode with a block cipher. Decryption needs to check if the format is valid. Validity of the format is easily leaked out from communication protocols because the receiver usually sends an error message when the format is not valid. This is a side channel. In this paper we show that the validity of the format of the decryption is actually a hard core bit predicate. We demonstrate this by implementing an efficient and practical side channel attack which enables the decryption of any ciphertext. The attack complexity is O(NbW) where N is the message length in blocks, b is the block length in words, and W is the number of possible words (typically 256). We also discuss about extensions to other padding schemes and various ways to fix the problem

Secure communications over insecure channels based on short authenticated strings

We propose a way to establish peer-to-peer authenticated communications over an insecure channel by using an extra channel which can authenticate very short strings, e.g. 15 bits. We call this SAS-based authentication as for authentication based on short authenticated strings. The extra channel uses a weak notion of authentication in which strings cannot be forged nor modified, but whose delivery can be maliciously stalled, canceled, or replayed. Our protocol is optimal and relies on an extractable or equivocable commitment scheme. This approach offers an alternative (or complement) to public-key infrastructures, since we no longer need any central authority, and to password-based authenticated key exchange, since we no longer need to establish a confidential password. It can be used to establish secure associations in ad-hoc networks. Applications could be the authentication of a public key (e.g. for SSH or PGP) by users over the telephone, the user-aided pairing of wireless (e.g. BIuetooth) devices, or the restore of secure associations in a disaster case, namely when one remote peer had his long-term keys corrupte

Analysis of DP3T

To help fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT) project proposed a Decentralized Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (DP3T) system. This helps tracking the spread of SARS-CoV-2 virus while keeping the privacy of individuals safe. In this report, we analyze the security and the privacy protection of DP3T. Without questioning how effective it could be against the pandemic, we show that it may introduce severe risks to society. Furthermore, we argue that some privacy protection measurements by DP3T may have the opposite affect of what they were intended to. Specifically, sick and reported people may be deanonymized, private encounters may be revealed, and people may be coerced to reveal the private data they collect

Decorrelation: a theory for block cipher security

Pseudorandomness is a classical model for the security of block ciphers. In this paper we propose convenient tools in order to study it in connection with the Shannon Theory, the Carter-Wegman universal hash functions paradigm, and the Luby-Rackoff approach. This enables the construction of new ciphers with security proofs under specific models. We show how to ensure security against basic differential and linear cryptanalysis and even more general attacks. We propose practical construction scheme

Proof of Proximity of Knowledge

Public-key distance bounding schemes are needed to defeat relay attacks in payment systems. So far, only two such schemes exist, but fail to fully protect against malicious provers. In this paper, we solve this problem. We provide a full formalism to define the proof of proximity of knowledge (PoPoK). Protocols should succeed if and only if a prover holding a secret is within the proximity of the verifier. Like proofs of knowledge, these protocols must satisfy completeness, soundness (protection for the honest verifier), and security (protection for the honest prover). We construct ProProx, the very first fully secure PoPoK