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Re-dividing Complexity between Algorithms and Keys

(Key Scripts)

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Progress in Cryptology — INDOCRYPT 2001 (INDOCRYPT 2001)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2247))

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Abstract

For decades cryptography strived for its goals by packing complexity into the exposed program, all the while pressing down the size of the secret key. Alas, modern technology (1) makes small keys a secondary requirement, (2) allows for layering of program logic, and (3) offers privacy and security offenders clever eavesdropping tools; altogether warranting a re-examination of the relative roles of the “passive” key and the “active” algorithm. We describe a working system where the nominal key is merged with some JavaScript code to become the “effective key,” thereby conferring upon the JavaScript interpreter (standard part in modern browsers), the role of the exposed cryptographic algorithm. We show that such Key-Script offers equivocation, (deniability), and we provide a secure key-distribution scheme that is not based on one-way functions, rather on the attribute of equivocation. We examine this new setting, and argue that it formally defeats cryptanalysis, where in practice such robustness is somewhat qualified.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel

    Gideon Samid

Authors
  1. Gideon Samid
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, Chennai, India

    C. Pandu Rangan

  2. Department of Computer Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong

    Cunsheng Ding

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© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Samid, G. (2001). Re-dividing Complexity between Algorithms and Keys. In: Rangan, C.P., Ding, C. (eds) Progress in Cryptology — INDOCRYPT 2001. INDOCRYPT 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2247. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45311-3_31

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45311-3_31

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-43010-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45311-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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