Threshold Cryptosystems Secure against Chosen-Ciphertext Attacks

Hwang et al. proposed an ElGamal-like scheme for encrypting large messages, which is more efficient than its predecessor in terms of computational complexity and the amount of data transformation. They declared that the resulting scheme is semantically secure against chosen-plaintext attacks under the assumptions that the decision Diffie–Hellman problem is intractable. Later, Wang et al. pointed out that the security level of Hwang et al.'s ElGamal-like scheme is not equivalent to the original ElGamal scheme and brings about the disadvantage of possible unsuccessful decryption. At the same time, they proposed an improvement on Hwang et al.'s ElGamal-like scheme to repair the weakness and reduce the probability of unsuccessful decryption. However, in this paper, we show that their improved scheme is still insecure against chosen-plaintext attacks whether the system is operated in the quadratic residue modulus or not. Furthermore, we propose a new ElGamal-like scheme to withstand the adaptive chosen-ciphertext attacks. The security of the proposed scheme is based solely on the decision Diffie–Hellman problem in the random oracle model.

Outsourcing private data and heavy computation tasks to the cloud may lead to privacy breach as attackers (e.g., malicious outsiders or cloud administrators) may correlate any relevant information to penetrate information of their interests. Therefore, how to preserve cloud users' privacy has been a top concern when adopting cloud solutions. In this paper, we investigate the identity privacy problem for the proxy re-encryption, which allows any third party (e.g., cloud) to re-encrypt ciphertexts in order to delegate the decryption right from one to another user. The relevant identity information, e.g., whose ciphertext was re-encrypted to the ciphertext under whose public key, may leak because re-encryption keys and ciphertexts (before and after re-encryption) are known to the third party. We review prior anonymity (identity privacy) notions, and find that these notions are either impractical or too weak. To address this problem thoroughly, we rigorously define the anonymity notion that not only embraces the prior anonymity notions but also captures the necessary anonymity requirement for practical applications. In addition, we propose a new and efficient proxy re-encryption scheme. The scheme satisfies the proposed anonymity notion under the Squared Decisional Bilinear Diffie-Hellman assumption and achieves security against chosen ciphertext attack under the Decisional Bilinear Diffie-Hellman assumption in the random oracle model. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first proxy re-encryption scheme attaining both chosen-ciphertext security and anonymity simultaneously.We implement a prototype based on the proposed proxy re-encryption scheme and the performance study shows that it is efficient.

Secure distribution of digital goods is now a significantly important issue for protecting publishers' copyrights. In this paper, we study a useful primitive for constructing a secure and efficient digital rights management system (DRM) where a server which encrypts digital content and one which issues the corresponding decryption key works independently, and existing schemes lack this property. We first argue the desired property necessary of an encryption scheme for constructing an efficient DRM, and formally define an encryption scheme as split encryption scheme containing such property. Also, we show that an efficient split encryption scheme can be constructed from any identity-based scheme. However, since currently there is no identity-based encryption scheme which is based on well-known computational assumption and/or provable security without the random oracle, by reasonably tuning the system parameter, we show another construction of split encryption which is secure against chosen ciphertext attacks in the standard model assuming that the decision Diffie-Hellman problem is hard to solve.

We define new algorithmic problems and discuss their properties (in particular, we present a careful study of their computational complexity). We apply the new problems to design public key encryption protocols with semantic security relative to their decisional variants. We then show how to provide efficient schemes that are semantically secure under adaptive chosen ciphertext attacks in the random oracle model. Finally, we show that the ideas developed in this extended abstract can be used to design the most efficient known cryptosystem with semantic security under non-adaptive chosen ciphertext attacks in the standard security model.

ElGamal cryptosystem is one of the oldest public-key cryptosystems. It is known to be semantically secure for arbitrary messages in the random oracle model under the decisional Diffie-Hellman assumption. Semantic security also holds in the standard model when messages are encoded as elements in the group for which the decisional Diffie-Hellman assumption is defined. This paper introduces a setting and companion cryptosystem where semantic security can be proved in the standard model without message encoding. Extensions achieving security against chosen-ciphertext attacks are also provided.

In this paper, we formally prove that padding the plaintext with a random bit-string provides the semantic security against chosen plaintext attack (IND-CPA) for the McEliece (and its dual, the Niederreiter) cryptosystems under the standard assumptions. Such padding has recently been used by Suzuki, Kobara and Imai in the context of RFID security. Our proof relies on the technical result by Katz and Shin from Eurocrypt '05 showing "pseudorandomness" implied by the learning parity with noise (LPN) problem. We do not need the random oracles as opposed to the known generic constructions which, on the other hand, provide a stronger protection as compared to our scheme--against (adaptive) chosen ciphertext attack, i.e., IND-CCA(2). In order to show that the padded version of the cryptosystem remains practical, we provide some estimates for suitable key sizes together with corresponding workload required for successful attack.

In this paper, we present a new public key encryption scheme with equality test (PKEwET). Compared to other PKEwET schemes, we find that its security can be improved since the proposed scheme is based on non-Abelian factorization problems. To our knowledge, it is the first scheme regarding equality test that can resist quantum algorithm attacks. We show that our scheme is one-way against chosen-ciphertext attacks in the case that the computational Diffie-Hellman problem is hard for a Type-I adversary. It is indistinguishable against chosen-ciphertext attacks in the case that the Decisional Diffie-Hellman problem is hard in the random oracle model for a Type-II adversary. To conclude the paper, we demonstrate that our scheme is more efficient.

Threshold Public Key Encryption allows a set of servers to decrypt a cipher text if a given threshold of authorized servers cooperate. Forward security allows one to mitigate the damage caused by exposure of secret keys. Forward-secure public encryptions are used to the threshold setting, this model guarantees that even if an adversary have broken into more than t distinct servers(for some i), messages encrypted during all time periods prior to i remain secret. In this paper, we present the first probably secure (non-interactive) forward-secure threshold public-key encryption scheme against chosen-cipher text attacks in the random oracle model. The encryption and update operations are very efficient when compared with the scheme presented by Libert et al. A formal definition, as well as a detailed analysis of the security performance of this scheme, is presented. The security of this scheme is based on the Computational Bilinear Diffie Hellman assumption, which leads to a unique approach to prove security in the random oracle model. Furthermore, in our model, the servers update their keys individually and asynchronously, without any communication between them.

The concept of policy-based cryptography is a promising paradigm for trust establishment and authorization in largescale open environments like the Internet and Mobile Networks. It aims at providing a framework for performing cryptographic operations with respect to policies formalized as monotone Boolean expressions written in standard normal forms. A policy involves conjunctions and disjunctions of conditions where each condition is fulfilled by a digital credential representing the signature of a specific credential issuer on a set of statements about a certain entity. Therefore, an entity fulfills a policy if any only if it has been issued a set of credentials fulfilling the combination of conditions specified by the policy.In this work, we focus on policy-based encryption schemes which allow to encrypt a message according to a policy so that only entities fulfilling the policy are able to decrypt the message. More generally, policy-based encryption belongs to an emerging family of encryption schemes sharing the ability to integrate encryption with access control structures. This ability is mainly enabled by bilinear pairings over elliptic curves and allows for several interesting applications in different contexts.A policy-based encryption scheme has to fulfill two primary requirements: on one hand, provable security under well defined attack models. On the other hand, efficiency, especially when dealing with the conjunctions and disjunctions of credential-based conditions.The contributions of our research work are twofold:1. The standard acceptable notion of security for public-key encryption schemes is indistinguishability against chosen ciphertext attacks. Hence, it is natural to require that a policy-based encryption scheme also satisfies this strong notion of security. However, the definition of this security notion must be adapted to the policy-based setting. Our first contribution is the definition of policy-oriented security model for policy-based encryption schemes as well as the development of an efficient policy-based encryption scheme that is provably secure under our security model in the random oracle model.2. Policy-based encryption schemes may suffer from the key-escrow property i.e. in addition to the legitimate holder of the credentials fulfilling the encryption policy, any collusion of credential issuers who are able to issue a set of credentials fulfilling the policy can decrypt the message. Our second contribution is to address this issue through the notion of policy-based public-key encryption. The latter allows encrypting a message not only with respect to a policy but also according to a public-key so that only an entity fulfilling the policy and having access to the corresponding private-key is able to decrypt the message. We developed a policy-based public-key encryption scheme from bilinear pairings and proved its security under the corresponding security model. Our proposal improves related work in terms of both security and efficiency.

Boneh et al. introduced mediated RSA (mRSA) in 2001 in an attempt to achieve faster key revocation for medium-sized organizations via the involvement of a security mediator (SEM) as a semi-trusted third party to provide partial ciphertext decryption for the receiver. In this paper, a pairing-free security mediated encryption scheme based on an ElGamal variant is proposed. The scheme features a similar setting as in the mediated RSA but with a different underlying primitive. We show that the proposed security mediated encryption scheme is secure indistinguishably against chosen-ciphertext attack (IND-CCA) in the random oracle via the hardness assumption of the computational Diffie-Hellman (CDH) problem.

Certificateless cryptography (CL-PKC) is a concept that aims at enjoying the advantages of identity based cryptography without suffering from its inherent key escrow. Several methods were recently suggested to generically construct a certificateless encryption (CLE) scheme by combining identity based schemes with ordinary public key cryptosystems. Whilst the security of one of these generic compositions was proved in a relaxed security model, we show that all them are insecure against chosen-ciphertext attacks in the strongest model of Al-Riyami and Paterson. We show how to easily fix these problems and give a method to achieve generic CLE constructions which are provably CCA-secure in the random oracle model. We finally propose a new efficient pairing-based scheme that performs better than previous proposals without pre-computation. We also prove its security in the random oracle model.

We propose a new computational problem called the twin Diffie–Hellman problem. This problem is closely related to the usual (computational) Diffie–Hellman problem and can be used in many of the same cryptographic constructions that are based on the Diffie–Hellman problem. Moreover, the twin Diffie–Hellman problem is at least as hard as the ordinary Diffie–Hellman problem. However, we are able to show that the twin Diffie–Hellman problem remains hard, even in the presence of a decision oracle that recognizes solutions to the problem—this is a feature not enjoyed by the Diffie–Hellman problem, in general. Specifically, we show how to build a certain “trapdoor test” that allows us to effectively answer decision oracle queries for the twin Diffie–Hellman problem without knowing any of the corresponding discrete logarithms. Our new techniques have many applications. As one such application, we present a new variant of ElGamal encryption with very short ciphertexts, and with a very simple and tight security proof, in the random oracle model, under the assumption that the ordinary Diffie–Hellman problem is hard. We present several other applications as well, including a new variant of Diffie and Hellman’s non-interactive key exchange protocol; a new variant of Cramer–Shoup encryption, with a very simple proof in the standard model; a new variant of Boneh–Franklin identity-based encryption, with very short ciphertexts; a more robust version of a password-authenticated key exchange protocol of Abdalla and Pointcheval.

In this paper, we study strong designated verifier signature in certificateless public key settings. We first present the notion and security model of certificatless strong designated verifier signature (CLSDVS) scheme, and then, we provide a concrete CLSDVS scheme, which has short signature size and low computational cost, satisfies all the requirements of strong designated verifier signature. The scheme is proven secure in the random oracle model by assuming the intractability of the Computational Bilinear Diffie-Hellman Problem and the Computational Diffie-Hellman Problem.

Blind signatures allow a signer to issue signatures on messages chosen by the signature recipient. The main property is that the recipient’s message is hidden from the signer. There are many applications, including Chaum’s e-cash system and Privacy Pass, where no special distribution of the signed message is required, and the message can be random. Interestingly, existing notions do not consider this practical use case separately. In this paper, we show that constraining the recipient’s choice over the message distribution spawns a surprising new primitive that improves the well-established state-of-the-art. We formalize this concept by introducing the notion of non-interactive blind signatures ( $$\textsf{NIBS}$$ ). Informally, the signer can create a presignature with a specific recipient in mind, identifiable via a public key. The recipient can use her secret key to finalize it and receive a blind signature on a random message determined by the finalization process. The key idea is that online interaction between the signer and recipient is unnecessary. We show an efficient instantiation of $$\textsf{NIBS}$$ in the random oracle model from signatures on equivalence classes. The exciting part is that, in this case, for the recipient’s public key, we can use preexisting keys for Schnorr, ECDSA signatures, El-Gamal encryption scheme or even the Diffie-Hellman key exchange. Reusing preexisting public keys allows us to distribute anonymous tokens similarly to cryptocurrency airdropping. Additional contributions include tagged non-interactive blind signatures ( $$\textsf{TNIBS}$$ ) and their efficient instantiation. A generic construction in the random oracle or common reference string model based on verifiable random functions, standard signatures, and non-interactive proof systems.

With the rapid miniaturization in sensor technology, ruddervator, arduino, and multi-rotor system, drone technology catches much attention of the researchers. It can be controlled remotely by a seated operator sitting to a powerful intelligence computer system (PICS) or an airborne control and command platform (AC2P). The two types of drones (reconnaissance and attacking) can communicate with each other and with the PICS or AC2P through wireless network channels referred to as Flying Ad Hoc Network or Unmanned Aerial Vehicular Network (FANET or UAVN). When the line of sight is broken, communication is mainly carried out through satellite using GPS (Global Positioning System) signals. Both GPS and UAVN/FANET use open network channels for data broadcasting, exposed to several threats, and its security is challenging for the researchers. Monitoring data transmission traffic, espionage, troop movement, border surveillance, searching and warfare battlefield phenomenon, etc., can auspiciously be achieved by developing a robust authentication scheme for IoD deployment military drone. Therefore, this research illustrates the designing of two separate protocols based on aggregate signature, identity, pairing cryptography, and Computational Diffie-Hellman Problem (CDHP) to guarantee data integrity, authorization, and confidentiality among drones and AC2P/PICS. The outdated data transmission flaw has also been tackled, which is frequently noted in prior protocols. The security of these protocols will formally be verified using a random oracle model (ROM), a real-or-random (ROR) model, and informally using pragmatic illustration and mathematical lemmas. Nonetheless, the performance analysis section will be executed using the algorithmic big-O notation. The results show that these protocols are verifiably protected in the Random Oracle Model (ROM) and Real-Or-Random (ROR) model using the CDHP.