Recent progress in number field sieve (NFS) has shaken the security of
Pairing-based Cryptography. For the discrete logarithm problem (DLP) in finite
field, we present the first systematic review of the NFS algorithms from three
perspectives: the degree α, constant c, and hidden constant o(1) in
the asymptotic complexity LQ​(α,c) and indicate that further
research is required to optimize the hidden constant. Using the special
extended tower NFS algorithm, we conduct a thorough security evaluation for all
the existing standardized PF curves as well as several commonly utilized
curves, which reveals that the BN256 curves recommended by the SM9 and the
previous ISO/IEC standard exhibit only 99.92 bits of security, significantly
lower than the intended 128-bit level. In addition, we comprehensively analyze
the security and efficiency of BN, BLS, and KSS curves for different security
levels. Our analysis suggests that the BN curve exhibits superior efficiency
for security strength below approximately 105 bit. For a 128-bit security
level, BLS12 and BLS24 curves are the optimal choices, while the BLS24 curve
offers the best efficiency for security levels of 160bit, 192bit, and 256bit.Comment: 8 figures, 8 tables, 5121 word