Paper 2023/715 Original: eprint.iacr.org/2023/715 ↗

SoK: Research Motivations of Public-Key Cryptography

Abstract

The design, proposal, and analysis of cryptographic primitives (schemes and protocols) is one of the primary research fields in cryptology. To advance this research field, in this paper, we systematically introduce the research motivations for proposing new constructions (for a primitive) in public-key cryptography. We found that all research motivations aim to produce more benefits for certain users, including practicality, security, and functionalities, although some of the benefits may not be obvious or may only hold conditionally. We have categorized the approaches for exploring more benefits into 3 ways, 6 types, 17 areas, and 40 research strategies. Each research strategy is presented as ``From less-beneficial (in the first construction) To more-beneficial (in the second construction)". This SoK paper aims to provide valuable insights into the driving forces behind advancements in public-key cryptography, facilitating future research efforts in this field.