International Association for Cryptologic Research

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2014-03-18
00:17 [Pub][ePrint]

We consider the problem of a client who outsources the computation of a function $f$ over an input $x$ to a server, who returns $y=f(x)$. The client wants to be assured of the correctness of the computation and wants to preserve confidentiality of the input $x$ and possibly of the function $f$ as well. Moreover, the client wants to invest substantially less effort in verifying the correctness of the result than it would require to compute $f$ from scratch.

This is the problem of secure outsourced computation over encrypted data. Most of the work on outsourced computation in the literature focuses on either privacy of the data, using {\\em Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE)}, or the integrity of the computation. No general security definition for protocols achieving both privacy and integrity appears in the literature. Previous definitions only deal with a very limited security model where the server is not allowed to

issue {\\em verification queries} to the client: i.e. it is not allowed to see\'\' if the client accepts or rejects the value $y$.

In this paper we present:

-- A formal definition of {\\em private and secure} outsourced computation {\\em in the presence of verification queries};

-- A protocol based on FHE that achieves the above definition for arbitrary poly-time computations;

-- Some additional protocols for the computation of {\\em ad-hoc} functions (such as the computation of polynomials and linear

combinations) over encrypted data. These protocols do not use the power of FHE, and therefore are much more efficient than the generic approach. We point out that some existing protocols in the literature for these tasks become insecure in the presence of verification queries, while our protocols can be proven in the stronger security model where verification queries are allowed.

2014-03-17
22:32 [Job][New]

The ANR \\\"SIMPATIC: SIM and PAiring Theory for Information and Communications security\\\" will recruit one post-doc position for the academic year 2014-2015.

The successful applicant will be a member of the Computer Science (LIASD) laboratory at Paris 8 University, France.

The position is open for one year, and may exceptionnally be renewed for a second year. If necessary, the starting date can be arranged as convenient.

The partners involved in the SIMPATIC project are the crypto teams of the Laboratoire d\\\'Informatique de l\\\'ENS Paris, of IMB (Bordeaux), of University Paris 8 (LAGA and LIASD), of University of Caen, Oberthur, INVIA, ST (Le Mans) and Orange Labs (Caen). Further information about the SIMPATIC project can be found on its webpage http://simpatic.orange-labs.fr/ .

Preference will be given to condidates whose profile is adapted to one of the following priorities of the project:

(i) The study of suitable pairing-friendly curves, both theoretical and algorithmic aspects. Candidates should therefore have a good background in relevant number theory and algebraic geometry. Some experience in software implementation (for example in Pari, Magma, Sage, ...) would be useful.

(ii) The secure implementation of efficient arithmetic suitable for SIMs and other small supports. Candidates are expected to have a good potential in theoretical cryptography.

(iii) The study of side channel attack in pairing based cryptography, both theoretical and practical. Candidates are expected to have a good potential in theoretical cryptography. He/she will be expected to interact with members of Oberthur.

Candidates must hold a PhD thesis or equivalent in mathematics or computer science, together with a strong research record.

15:15 [Event][New]

From August 19 to August 23
Location: Santa Barbara, USA

15:15 [Event][New]

From August 20 to August 24
Location: Santa Barbara, USA

15:15 [Event][New]

From August 14 to August 18
Location: Santa Barbara, USA

15:15 [Event][New]

From August 16 to August 20
Location: Santa Barbara, USA

09:17 [Pub][ePrint]

This paper presents a fast implementation to compute the scalar multiplication of elliptic curve points based on a General-Purpose computing on Graphics Processing Units\'\' (GPGPU) approach. A GPU implementation using Dan Bernstein\'s Curve25519, an elliptic curve over a 255-bit prime field complying with the new 128-bit security level, computes the scalar multiplication in less than a microsecond on AMD\'s R9 290X GPU. The presented methods and implementation considerations can be applied to any parallel architecture.

2014-03-16
21:02 [News]

Scott Vanstone (1947-2014)

2014-03-15
20:30 [Event][New]

Submission: 27 June 2014
From November 5 to November 7
Location: Paris, France

20:19 [News]

It is a great honor for me to have been elected as the President of the IACR and a challenge at the same time. Today cryptography is a vibrant research field that offers important and exciting questions to work on. It has not lost any of its fascination to me over the last 20 years since I entered the field as a graduate student -- quite to the contrary. In the age of cloud computing, cryptology continues to be a key technology for securing the digital world. Starting with the Snowden revelations in 2013, cryptography has also regained a level of political visibility that reminds me of the debates that were taking place in the 1990's. This gives us, as cryptologists and members of the IACR, an exposure that is hard to match.

In 2013 cryptology demonstrated (again) the power of its contributions to society, science, and technology by Shafi Goldwasser and Silvio Micali winning the ACM Turing Award, the highest distinction in computer science. As the ACM Turing Award page shows very visibly (http://amturing.acm.org/bysubject.cfm), cryptology is one of the most promising research topics for winning the Turing Award. Congratulations, Shafi and Silvio!

The IACR's events were well-attended and well-organized in 2013. The first two of our 2014 events, TCC in San Diego and FSE in London, are already over with about 120 and about 160 attendees, respectively. For the upcoming Eurocrypt in Copenhagen, everyone is advised to book early. Due to Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in the week just before Eurocrypt, hotels may be difficult to find or expensive.

The composition of the Board of Directors has changed for 2014. New members of the Board are: Ivan Damgaard, as new JoC Editor-in-Chief; Steven Galbraith, Asiacrypt 2015 General Chair; Svetla Petkova-Nikova, Eurocrypt 2015 General Chair; and Thomas Ristenpart, Crypto 2015 General Chair. Matt Franklin will stay on the Board in 2014 for easing the transition of the Journal to Ivan Damgaard.

IACR exists only through the work of volunteers, who bring our conferences, events, online systems, and publications to life. I'd like to thank everyone for contributing their time to IACR. It is hard work but important for our organization. At the same time, I am looking forward to hearing about your future plans and ideas for how you would like to help and to improve IACR.

Very concretely, the European members of the Board of Directors are currently looking for a proposal to host Eurocrypt 2016. If you are inclined and would like to know more about exposing your skills as a conference organizer, please step forward and contact Michel Abdalla or any other member of the Board.

For 2014 and beyond, the IACR will have to address the challenges to scientific publishing posed by two factors, by the Internet and by the growing field. The IACR has a long tradition of operating with a liberal, author-friendly attitude to copyright. This has made it possible, among other things, that all IACR publications starting from 1982 are now openly available over the Internet via the IACR website; only the last two years are restricted to IACR members. Second, the growth in our field has boosted the number of paper submissions and conference attendees, but also led to record low acceptance rates and excessive reviewing load. We will resume the open discussion on the future of IACR's publications, in order to address these challenges.

With my new role as President, I have to cut back on other ends. I am glad that Nigel Smart has taken over my job as co-editor of the Cryptology ePrint Archive, or "eprint" as called by most. He shares this workload with Tal Rabin. Almost 15 years ago, when I had created the online system that still runs today, it had not occurred to me that the eprint archive would ever play such a useful role for research in cryptology.

Shortly before writing this, the sad news reached us that Scott Vanstone has passed away on March 2nd. He was a giant in the field, and the IACR will honor his contributions separately. Let me only mention that he was a past Director of the IACR and had helped to grow the organization, and he became an IACR Fellow in 2011.

I look forward to interacting with you in 2014.

Christian Cachin
IACR President

This letter had stated erroneously that Scott Vanstone was past President of the IACR; in fact, he was a member of the Board of Directors.