A disjunctive multi-level secret sharing scheme divides users into different levels. Each level L is associated with a threshold t_L, and a group of users can only recover the secret if, for some L, there are at least t_L users at levels 0....L in the group. We present a simple ideal disjunctive multi-level secret sharing scheme -- in fact, the simplest and most direct scheme to date. It is the first polynomial-time solution that allows the dealer to add new users dynamically. Our solution is by far the most efficient; the dealer must perform O(t) field operations per user, where t is the highest threshold in the system. We demonstrate the simplicity of our scheme by extending our construction into a distributed commitment scheme using standard techniques.

The stream cipher RC4 was designed by R.~Rivest in 1987, and it has a very simple and elegant structure. It is probably the most deployed cipher on the Earth. ~~~~In this paper we analyse the class RC4-$N$ of RC4-like stream ciphers, where $N$ is the modulus of operations, as well as the length of internal arrays. Our new attack is a state recovery attack which accepts the keystream of a certain length, and recovers the internal state. For the original RC4-256, our attack has total complexity of around $2^{241}$ operations, whereas the best previous attack needs $2^{779}$ of time. Moreover, we show that if the secret key is of length $N$ bits or longer, the new attack works faster than an exhaustive search. The algorithm of the attack was implemented and verified on small cases.

This paper introduces EECM-MPFQ, a fast implementation of the elliptic-curve method of factoring integers. EECM-MPFQ uses fewer modular multiplications than the well-known GMP-ECM software, takes less time than GMP-ECM, and finds more primes than GMP-ECM. The main improvements above the modular-arithmetic level are as follows: (1) use Edwards curves instead of Montgomery curves; (2) use extended Edwards coordinates; (3) use signed-sliding-window addition-subtraction chains; (4) batch primes to increase the window size; (5) choose curves with small parameters and base points; (6) choose curves with large torsion.

In many applications, it is desirable to work with signatures that are both short, and yet where many messages from different signers be verified very quickly. RSA signatures satisfy the latter condition, but are generally thousands of bits in length. Recent developments in pairing-based cryptography produced a number of short signatures which provide equivalent security in a fraction of the space. Unfortunately, verifying these signatures is computationally intensive due to the expensive pairing operation. In an attempt to simultaneously achieve "short and fast" signatures, Camenisch, Hohenberger and Pedersen (Eurocrypt 2007) showed how to batch verify two pairing-based schemes so that the total number of pairings was independent of the number of signatures to verify. In this work, we present both theoretical and practical contributions. On the theoretical side, we introduce new batch verifiers for a wide variety of regular, identity-based, group, ring and aggregate signature schemes. These are the first constructions for batching group signatures, which answers an open problem of Camenisch et al. On the practical side, we implement each of these algorithms and compare each batching algorithm to doing individual verifications. Our goal is to test whether batching is practical; that is, whether the benefits of removing pairings significantly outweigh the cost of the additional operations required for batching, such as group membership testing, randomness generation, and additional modular exponentiations and multiplications. We experimentally verify that the theoretical results of Camenisch et al. and this work, indeed, provide an efficient, effective approach to verifying multiple signatures from (possibly) different signers.

We study an adaptive variant of oblivious transfer in which a sender has N messages, of which a receiver can adaptively choose to receive k one-after-the-other, in such a way that (a) the sender learns nothing about the receiver’s selections, and (b) the receiver only learns about the k requested messages. We propose two practical protocols for this primitive that achieve a stronger security notion than previous schemes with comparable efficiency. In particular, by requiring full simulatability for both sender and receiver security, our notion prohibits a subtle selective-failure attack not addressed by the security notions achieved by previous practical schemes. Our first protocol is a very efficient generic construction from unique blind signatures in the random oracle model. The second construction does not assume random oracles, but achieves remarkable efficiency with only a constant number of group elements sent during each transfer. This second construction uses novel techniques for building efficient simulatable protocols.

This paper introduces ``twisted Edwards curves,'' a generalization of the recently introduced Edwards curves; shows that twisted Edwards curves include more curves over finite fields, and in particular every elliptic curve in Montgomery form; shows how to cover even more curves via isogenies; presents fast explicit formulas for twisted Edwards curves in projective and inverted coordinates; and shows that twisted Edwards curves save time for many curves that were already expressible as Edwards curves.

Bellare and Micciancio's MuHASH applies a pre-existing hash function to map indexed message blocks into a secure group. The resulting hash is the product. Bellare and Micciancio proved, in the random oracle model, that MuHASH is collision-resistant if the group's discrete logarithm problem is infeasible. MuHASH, however, relies on a pre-existing hash being collision resistant. In this paper, we remove such a reliance by replacing the pre-existing hash with a block cipher under a fixed key. We adapt Bellare and Micciancio's collision-resistance proof to the ideal cipher model. Preimage resistance requires us to add a further modification.

In this paper I study the MOR cryptosystem using the special linear group over finite fields. At our current state of knowledge, I show that the MOR cryptosystem is more secure than the ElGamal cryptosystem over finite fields.

Xoring two permutations is a very simple way to construct pseudorandom functions from pseudorandom permutations. The aim of this paper is to get precise security results for this construction. Since such construction has many applications in cryptography (see \cite{BI,BKrR,HWKS,SL} for example), this problem is interesting both from a theoretical and from a practical point of view. In \cite{SL}, it was proved that Xoring two random permutations gives a secure pseudorandom function if $m \ll 2^{\frac {2n}{3}}$. By ``secure'' we mean here that the scheme will resist all adaptive chosen plaintext attacks limited to $m$ queries (even with unlimited computing power). More generally in \cite{SL} it is also proved that with $k$ Xor, instead of 2, we have security when $m \ll 2^{\frac {kn}{k+1}}$. In this paper we will prove that for $k=2$, we have in fact already security when $m \ll O(2^n)$. Therefore we will obtain a proof of a similar result claimed in \cite{BI} (security when $m\ll O(2^n /n^{2/3})$). Moreover our proof is very different from the proof strategy suggested in \cite{BI} (we do not use Azuma inequality and Chernoff bounds for example, but we will use the ``$H_{\sigma}$ technique'' as we will explain), and we will get precise and explicit $O$ functions. Another interesting point of our proof is that we will show that this (cryptographic) problem of security is directly related to a very simple to describe and purely combinatorial problem.

\begin{abstract} Xoring the output of $k$ permutations, $k\geq 2$ is a very simple way to construct pseudo-random functions (PRF) from pseudo-random permutations (PRP). Moreover such construction has many applications in cryptography (see \cite{BI,BKrR,HWKS,SL} for example). Therefore it is interesting both from a theoretical and from a practical point of view, to get precise security results for this construction. In this paper, we will describe the best attacks that we have found on the Xor of $k$ random $n$-bit to $n$-bit permutations. When $k=2$, we will get an attack of computational complexity $O(2^n)$. This result was already stated in \cite{BI}. On the contrary, for $k \geq 3$, our analysis is new. We will see that the best known attacks require much more than $2^n$ computations when not all of the $2^n$ outputs are given, or when the function is changed on a few points. We obtain like this a new and very simple design that can be very usefull when a security larger than $2^n$ is wanted, for example when $n$ is very small. \end{abstract}

In this paper we present a new method to construct a polynomial $u(x) \in \mathbb{Z}[x]$ which will make $\mathrm{\Phi}_{k}(u(x))$ reducible. We construct a finite separable extension of $\mathbb{Q}(\zeta_{k})$, denoted as $\mathbb{E}$. By primitive element theorem, there exists a primitive element $\theta \in \mathbb{E}$ such that $\mathbb{E}=\mathbb{Q}(\theta)$. We represent the primitive $k$-th root of unity $\zeta_{k}$ by $\theta$ and get a polynomial $u(x) \in \mathbb{Q}[x]$ from the representation. The resulting $u(x)$ will make $\mathrm{\Phi}_{k}(u(x))$ factorable.

We consider one-round identity-based key exchange protocols secure in the standard model. The security analysis uses the powerful security model of Canetti and Krawczyk and a natural extension of it to the ID-based setting. It is shown how KEMs can be used in a generic way to obtain two different protocol designs with progressively stronger security guarantees. A detailed analysis of the performance of the protocols is included; surprisingly, when instantiated with specific KEM constructions, the resulting protocols are competitive with the best previous schemes that have proofs only in the random oracle model.

In frameworks for universal composability, complex protocols can be built from sub-protocols in a modular way using composition theorems. However, as first pointed out and studied by Canetti and Rabin, this modular approach often leads to impractical implementations. For example, when using a functionality for digital signatures within a more complex protocol, parties have to generate new verification and signing keys for every session of the protocol. This motivates to generalize composition theorems to so-called joint state (composition) theorems, where different copies of a functionality may share some state, e.g., the same verification and signing keys. In this paper, we present a joint state theorem which is more general than the original theorem of Canetti and Rabin, for which several problems and limitations are pointed out. We apply our theorem to obtain joint state realizations for three functionalities: public-key encryption, replayable public-key encryption, and digital signatures. Unlike most other formulations, our functionalities model that ciphertexts and signatures are computed locally, rather than being provided by the adversary. To obtain the joint state realizations, the functionalities have to be designed carefully. Other formulations proposed in the literature are shown to be unsuitable. Our work is based on the IITM model. Our definitions and results demonstrate the expressivity and simplicity of this model. For example, unlike Canetti's UC model, in the IITM model no explicit joint state operator needs to be defined and the joint state theorem follows immediately from the composition theorem in the IITM model.

We propose to apply an information theoretic metric to the evaluation of side-channel resistant logic styles. Due to the long design and development time required for the physical evaluation of such hardware countermeasures, our analysis is based on simulations. Although they do not aim to replace the need of actual measurements, we show that simulations can be used as a meaningful first step in the validation chain of a cryptographic product. For illustration purposes, we apply our methodology to gate-level simulations of different logic styles and stress that it allows a significant improvement of the previously considered evaluation methods. In particular, our results allow putting forward the respective strengths and weaknesses of actual countermeasures and determining to which extent they can practically lead to secure implementations (with respect to a noise parameter), if adversaries were provided with simulation-based side-channel traces. Most importantly, the proposed methodology can be straightforwardly adapted to adversaries provided with any other kind of leakage traces (including physical ones).

This paper describes several constructions of tweakable strong pseudorandom permutations (SPRPs) built from different modes of operations of a block cipher and suitable universal hash functions. For the electronic codebook (ECB) based construction, an invertible blockwise universal hash function is required. We simplify an earlier construction of such a function described by Naor and Reingold. The other modes of operations considered are the counter mode and the output feedback (OFB) mode. All the constructions make the same number of block cipher calls and the same number of multiplications. Combined with a class of polynomials defined by Bernstein, the new constructions provide the currently best known algorithms for the important practical problem of disk encryption.

In this paper we don't examine security of Turbo SHA-2 completely; we only show new collision attacks on it, with smaller complexity than it was considered by Turbo SHA-2 authors. In [1] they consider Turbo SHA-224/256-r and Turbo SHA-384/512-r with variable number of rounds r from 1 to 8. The authors of [1] show collision attack on Turbo SHA-256-1 with one round which has the complexity of 2^64. For other r from 2 to 8 they don't find better attack than with the complexity of 2^128. Similarly, for Turbo SHA-512 they find only collision attack on Turbo SHA-512-1 with one round which has the complexity of 2^128. For r from 2 to 8 they don't find better attack than with the complexity of 2^256. In this paper we show collision attack on SHA-256-r for r = 1, 2,..., 8 with the complexity of 2^{16*r}. We also show collision attack on Turbo SHA-512-r for r = 1, 2,..., 8 with the complexity of 2^{32*r}. It follows that the only one remaining candidate from the hash family Turbo SHA is Turbo SHA-256 (and Turbo SHA-512) with 8 rounds. The original security reserve of 6 round has been lost.

We introduce a new cryptographic primitive which is the signature analogue of fuzzy identity based encryption(IBE). We call it fuzzy identity based signature(IBS). It possesses similar error-tolerance property as fuzzy IBE that allows a user with the private key for identity $\omega$ to decrypt a ciphertext encrypted for identity $\omega'$ if and only if $\omega$ and $\omega'$ are within a certain distance judged by some metric. A fuzzy IBS is useful whenever we need to allow the user to issue signature on behalf of the group that has certain attributes. Fuzzy IBS can also be applied to biometric identity based signature. To our best knowledge, this primitive was never considered in the identity based signature before. We give the definition and security model of the new primitive and present the first practical implementation based on Sahai-Waters construction\cite{6} and the two level hierarchical signature of Boyen and Waters\cite{9}. We prove that our scheme is existentially unforgeable against adaptively chosen message attack without random oracles.

Key agreement protocols are essential for secure communications in open and distributed environments. The protocol design is, however, extremely error-prone as evidenced by the iterative process of fixing discovered attacks on published protocols. We revisit an efficient identity-based (ID-based) key agreement protocol due to Ryu, Yoon and Yoo. The protocol is highly efficient and suitable for real-world applications despite offering no resilience against key-compromise impersonation (K-CI). We then show that the protocol is, in fact, insecure against reflection attacks. A slight modification to the protocol is proposed, which results in significant benefits for the security of the protocol without compromising on its efficiency. Finally, we prove the improved protocol secure in a widely accepted model.