TWC: Small: Finding Optimality in Practical Cryptography

该项目旨在使用客观实用的技术，为广泛的任务获得可证明的最佳密码结构。为了实现这一目标，该项目在三个技术方面取得了进展。首先，开发了一个通用框架，该框架包含来自许多领域的已知实用密码技术并将其系统化。其次，该项目开发了证明该框架内构造的具体、细粒度下限的技术。最后，程序综合技术将应用于新框架。这些技术最终形成了自动合成安全和最佳密码结构的方法。该项目重点关注使用快速、实用技术的密码结构。此类结构最有可能对日常使用产生直接影响。正在研究的密码应用领域范围广泛，从已经广泛使用的基本应用（例如对称密钥加密和数字签名）到最近接近实际采用的更高级应用（例如乱码电路）。该项目还通过不断开发全面和创新的课程材料来推进密码学本科和研究生教育。

This project aims to obtain provably optimal cryptographic constructions, using objectively practical techniques, for a wide range of tasks. To achieve this goal, the project makes progress on three technical fronts. First, a general-purpose framework is developed that encompasses and systematizes known practical cryptographic techniques from many domains. Second, the project develops techniques for proving concrete, fine-grained lower bounds about constructions within this framework. Finally, techniques from program synthesis will be applied to the new framework. These techniques culminate in methods for automatically synthesizing secure and optimal cryptographic constructions.This project focuses on cryptographic constructions that use fast, practical techniques. Such constructions are the most likely to have immediate impact on everyday use. The cryptographic applications areas being studied range from fundamental ones already in widespread use, such as symmetric-key encryption and digital signatures, to more advanced ones more recently approaching practical adoption like garbled circuits. The project also advances undergraduate and graduate education in cryptography with the ongoing development of comprehensive and innovative curricular materials.