Projects
Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things
We are entering the era of the Internet of Things (IoT). The IoT connects not only classical computing and communication devices, but all kinds of other gadgets that we use in our everyday lives: Cars, door locks, personal medical devices, washing machines, refrigerators, and light switches are often cited examples. These devices can then download software from, and upload data to, the Internet. Likewise, users on the Internet can query the devices for information, or issue commands for the device to perform specific actions.
Thus the IoT provides a capacity for remote users to manipulate our physical environment. This manipulation is obviously potentially dangerous, and it must be understood that access to IoT devices must be allowed only for legitimate, authorized users. This requires the use of cryptographic techniques for proving the identity of devices and users, and for protecting the interchanged information.
The most popular current cryptographic techniques are not secure against an attacker that can do computations on a quantum computer. As of early 2018, full-scale quantum computers are not publicly known to exist, and it is still considered a significant challenge to construct one. However, there are strong ongoing efforts worldwide to build these computers, motivated by political and commercial interests. Therefore it is recommended that sensitive information is protected by new cryptographic techniques that are not vulnerable to an attacker with access to a quantum computer. These techniques are referred to as quantum-safe, or post-quantum, crypto.
Known quantum-safe techniques rely on heavy computations and very long cryptographic keys. This is particularly inconvenient in the IoT setting, where many devices may be strictly limited with respect to computation, storage, communication, and battery capacity. In this project, we address the design and analysis of lightweight quantum-safe crypto primitives and IoT-compatible crypto communication protocols.
Funding source:
The Research Council of Norway (IKTPluss)
Publications for Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things
Proceedings, refereed
On the Secrecy Gain of Isodual Lattices from Tail-Biting Convolutional Codes
In International Symposium on Topics in Coding (ISTC), 2023.Status: Published
On the Secrecy Gain of Isodual Lattices from Tail-Biting Convolutional Codes
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Information Theory Section, Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2023 |
| Conference Name | International Symposium on Topics in Coding (ISTC) |
Construction and Secrecy Gain of Formally Unimodular Lattices in Odd Dimensions
In Information Theory Workshop (ITW), 2023.Status: Published
Construction and Secrecy Gain of Formally Unimodular Lattices in Odd Dimensions
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Information Theory Section, Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2023 |
| Conference Name | Information Theory Workshop (ITW) |
A New Algebraic Approach to the Regular Syndrome Decoding Problem and Implications for PCG Constructions
In Advances in Cryptology – EUROCRYPT 2023, 2023.Status: Accepted
A New Algebraic Approach to the Regular Syndrome Decoding Problem and Implications for PCG Constructions
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2023 |
| Conference Name | Advances in Cryptology – EUROCRYPT 2023 |
From Farfalle to Megafono via Ciminion: The PRF Hydra for MPC Applications
In Advances in Cryptology – EUROCRYPT 2023, 2023.Status: Accepted
From Farfalle to Megafono via Ciminion: The PRF Hydra for MPC Applications
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2023 |
| Conference Name | Advances in Cryptology – EUROCRYPT 2023 |
Proceedings, refereed
Determining the equivocation in coded transmission over a noisy channel
In 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT). Espoo, Finland: IEEE, 2022.Status: Published
Determining the equivocation in coded transmission over a noisy channel
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things, Cryptography Section, Information Theory Section |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2022 |
| Conference Name | 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT) |
| Pagination | 1253-1258 |
| Publisher | IEEE |
| Place Published | Espoo, Finland |
| URL | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9834781/http://xplorestaging.ieee.o... |
| DOI | 10.1109/ISIT50566.2022.9834781 |
On the Secrecy Gain of Formally Unimodular Construction A4 Lattices
In 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT). IEEE, 2022.Status: Published
On the Secrecy Gain of Formally Unimodular Construction A4 Lattices
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Information Theory Section, Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2022 |
| Conference Name | 2022 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT) |
| Pagination | 3226-3231 |
| Publisher | IEEE |
| DOI | 10.1109/ISIT50566.2022.9834686 |
PhD Thesis
Algebraic Cryptanalysis of Cryptographic Schemes with Extension Field Structure
In University of Bergen, 2021.Status: Published
Algebraic Cryptanalysis of Cryptographic Schemes with Extension Field Structure
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Simula UiB, Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | PhD Thesis |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Degree awarding institution | University of Bergen |
| URL | https://bora.uib.no/bora-xmlui/handle/11250/2771891 |
Proceedings, refereed
On the Effect of Projection on Rank Attacks in Multivariate Cryptography
In The 12th International Conference on Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQCRYPTO 2021). Vol. LNCS, vol 12841. Cham: Springer, 2021.Status: Published
On the Effect of Projection on Rank Attacks in Multivariate Cryptography
The multivariate scheme HFEv- used to be considered a promising candidate for a post-quantum signature system. First suggested in the early 2000s, a version of the scheme made it to the third round of the ongoing NIST post-quantum standardization process. In late 2020, the system suffered from an efficient rank attack due to Tao, Petzoldt, and Ding. In this paper, we inspect how this recent rank attack is affected by the projection modification. This modification was introduced to secure the signature scheme PFLASH against its predecessor's attacks. We prove upper bounds for the rank of projected HFEv- (pHFEv-) and PFLASH under the new attack, which are tight for the experiments we have performed. We conclude that projection could be a useful tool in protecting against this recent cryptanalysis.
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Simula UiB, Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Conference Name | The 12th International Conference on Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQCRYPTO 2021) |
| Volume | LNCS, vol 12841 |
| Pagination | 98-113 |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Place Published | Cham |
Tiling of Constellations
In 2021 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT). Melbourne, Australia: IEEE, 2021.Status: Published
Tiling of Constellations
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things, Simula UiB |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Conference Name | 2021 IEEE International Symposium on Information Theory (ISIT) |
| Pagination | 450-454 |
| Publisher | IEEE |
| Place Published | Melbourne, Australia |
| URL | https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9518129/http://xplorestaging.ieee.o... |
| DOI | 10.1109/ISIT45174.2021.9518129 |
Proceedings, refereed
An Algebraic Attack on Ciphers with Low-Degree Round Functions: Application to Full MiMC
In Advances in Cryptology – ASIACRYPT 2020. Springer, 2020.Status: Published
An Algebraic Attack on Ciphers with Low-Degree Round Functions: Application to Full MiMC
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Simula UiB, Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Conference Name | Advances in Cryptology – ASIACRYPT 2020 |
| Pagination | 477-506 |
| Publisher | Springer |
Publications
Proceedings, refereed
A New Algebraic Approach to the Regular Syndrome Decoding Problem and Implications for PCG Constructions
In Advances in Cryptology – EUROCRYPT 2023, 2023.Status: Accepted
A New Algebraic Approach to the Regular Syndrome Decoding Problem and Implications for PCG Constructions
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2023 |
| Conference Name | Advances in Cryptology – EUROCRYPT 2023 |
From Farfalle to Megafono via Ciminion: The PRF Hydra for MPC Applications
In Advances in Cryptology – EUROCRYPT 2023, 2023.Status: Accepted
From Farfalle to Megafono via Ciminion: The PRF Hydra for MPC Applications
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2023 |
| Conference Name | Advances in Cryptology – EUROCRYPT 2023 |
PhD Thesis
Algebraic Cryptanalysis of Cryptographic Schemes with Extension Field Structure
In University of Bergen, 2021.Status: Published
Algebraic Cryptanalysis of Cryptographic Schemes with Extension Field Structure
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Simula UiB, Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | PhD Thesis |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Degree awarding institution | University of Bergen |
| URL | https://bora.uib.no/bora-xmlui/handle/11250/2771891 |
Proceedings, refereed
Analysis of Multivariate Encryption Schemes: Application to Dob
In Public-Key Cryptography (PKC 2021). Vol. LNCS, vol 12710. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2021.Status: Published
Analysis of Multivariate Encryption Schemes: Application to Dob
In this paper, we study the effect of two modifications to multivariate public key encryption schemes: internal perturbation (ip), and Q_+. Focusing on the Dob encryption scheme, a construction utilising these modifications, we accurately predict the number of degree fall polynomials produced in a Gröbner basis attack, up to and including degree five. The predictions remain accurate even when fixing variables. Based on this new theory we design a novel attack on the Dob encryption scheme, which breaks Dob using the parameters suggested by its designers. While our work primarily focuses on the Dob encryption scheme, we also believe that the presented techniques will be of particular interest to the analysis of other big–field schemes
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Simula UiB |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Conference Name | Public-Key Cryptography (PKC 2021) |
| Volume | LNCS, vol 12710 |
| Pagination | 155 - 183 |
| Date Published | 05/2021 |
| Publisher | Springer International Publishing |
| Place Published | Cham |
| ISBN Number | 978-3-030-75244-6 |
| ISSN Number | 0302-9743 |
| URL | https://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-030-75245-3 |
| DOI | 10.1007/978-3-030-75245-310.1007/978-3-030-75245-3_7 |
On the Effect of Projection on Rank Attacks in Multivariate Cryptography
In The 12th International Conference on Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQCRYPTO 2021). Vol. LNCS, vol 12841. Cham: Springer, 2021.Status: Published
On the Effect of Projection on Rank Attacks in Multivariate Cryptography
The multivariate scheme HFEv- used to be considered a promising candidate for a post-quantum signature system. First suggested in the early 2000s, a version of the scheme made it to the third round of the ongoing NIST post-quantum standardization process. In late 2020, the system suffered from an efficient rank attack due to Tao, Petzoldt, and Ding. In this paper, we inspect how this recent rank attack is affected by the projection modification. This modification was introduced to secure the signature scheme PFLASH against its predecessor's attacks. We prove upper bounds for the rank of projected HFEv- (pHFEv-) and PFLASH under the new attack, which are tight for the experiments we have performed. We conclude that projection could be a useful tool in protecting against this recent cryptanalysis.
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Simula UiB, Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2021 |
| Conference Name | The 12th International Conference on Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQCRYPTO 2021) |
| Volume | LNCS, vol 12841 |
| Pagination | 98-113 |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Place Published | Cham |
Proceedings, refereed
An Algebraic Attack on Ciphers with Low-Degree Round Functions: Application to Full MiMC
In Advances in Cryptology – ASIACRYPT 2020. Springer, 2020.Status: Published
An Algebraic Attack on Ciphers with Low-Degree Round Functions: Application to Full MiMC
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Simula UiB, Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Conference Name | Advances in Cryptology – ASIACRYPT 2020 |
| Pagination | 477-506 |
| Publisher | Springer |
Cryptanalysis of the Multivariate Encryption Scheme EFLASH
In RSA Conference Cryptographers' Track 2020. Vol. 12006. Lecture Notes in Computer Science: Springer, 2020.Status: Published
Cryptanalysis of the Multivariate Encryption Scheme EFLASH
EFLASH is a multivariate public-key encryption scheme proposed by Cartor and Smith-Tone at SAC 2018. In this paper we investigate the hardness of solving the particular equation systems arising from EFLASH, and show that the solving degree for these types of systems is much lower than estimated by the authors. We show that a Gröbner basis algorithm will produce degree fall polynomials at a low degree for EFLASH systems. In particular we are able to accurately predict the number of these polynomials occurring at step degrees 3 and 4 in our attacks. We performed several experiments using the computer algebra system MAGMA, which indicate that the solving degree is at most one higher than the one where degree fall polynomials occur; moreover, our experiments show that whenever the predicted number of degree fall polynomials is positive, it is exact. Our conclusion is that EFLASH does not offer the level of security claimed by the designers. In particular, we estimate that the EFLASH version with 80-bit security parameters offers at most 69 bits of security.
| Afilliation | Cryptography |
| Project(s) | Simula UiB, Quantum safe cryptography for the Internet of Things |
| Publication Type | Proceedings, refereed |
| Year of Publication | 2020 |
| Conference Name | RSA Conference Cryptographers' Track 2020 |
| Volume | 12006 |
| Pagination | 85-105 |
| Date Published | 02/2020 |
| Publisher | Springer |
| Place Published | Lecture Notes in Computer Science |
| ISBN Number | 978-3-030-40186-3 |