Collaborative Research: Mitigating the Damaging Effects of Key Exposure

项目摘要：系统的安全性取决于其最薄弱的攻击点。 事实上，提高整个系统安全性的唯一方法是提高其最脆弱部分的弹性。许多成功的研究都集中在开发加密协议，只要一些信息（即，密钥）对对手保密。然而，由于这样的算法越来越多地部署在廉价的、移动的和不受保护的设备（例如，膝上型计算机、移动的电话和PDA），密钥暴露的风险正在成为对许多现实世界系统的安全性的严重威胁。该项目旨在开发新的范例和设计有效的算法，即使在密钥暴露攻击的情况下也能保持安全性。在其他主题中，该项目将集中在（1）前向安全公钥加密;（2）前向保密密钥交换协议;和（3）保护签密方案免受密钥暴露攻击。作为这项研究的一部分开发的技术有望帮助提高从手持设备到ad-hoc网络的许多不同系统的安全性。研究生将参与这个项目的各个方面，本科生也将被鼓励参与。这项研究的技术将被纳入密码学和计算机安全的本科生和研究生课程。通过这些方式，该项目将有助于在信息安全这一重要领域培养未来的科学家。

Project Abstract:Systems are only as secure as their weakest point of attack. Indeed,the only way to increase the security of a system as a whole is toimprove the resilience of its most vulnerable component. Muchsuccessful research has focused on developing cryptographic protocolswhich are secure as long as some information (i.e., a key) is keptsecret from the adversary. However, as such algorithms areincreasingly deployed on inexpensive, mobile, and unprotected devices(e.g., laptops, mobile phones, and PDAs), the risk of key exposure isbecoming a serious threat to the security of many real-worldsystems. This project aims to develop new paradigms and to designefficient algorithms for maintaining security even in the event of akey exposure attack. Among other topics, the project will focus on (1)forward-secure public-key encryption; (2) forward secrecy inkey-exchange protocols; and (3) protecting signcryption schemesagainst key exposure attacks. The techniques developed as part of thisresearch are expected to help improve the security of a number ofdifferent systems, from handheld devices to ad-hoc networks.Graduate students will be involved in all aspects of this project, andundergraduate involvement will be encouraged as well. The techniquesstemming from this research will be incorporated into undergraduateand graduate courses in cryptography and computer security. In theseways, the project will help train future scientists in the importantarea of information security.