CAREER: The Theoretical Foundations of Symmetric Cryptography

密码学对于确保信息的保密性和完整性至关重要。由于它们的实用性，对称算法——发送方和接收方使用相同的密钥——是大多数实际加密技术部署的基础。然而，同样由于这个原因，对称加密在现实世界的效率需求和可证明的安全保证之间存在固有的紧张关系。这个项目研究新的技术进步，旨在缩小可证明的安全性和对称密码学的实际需求之间的差距。该项目开发了新的加密算法和证明技术，借鉴了理论计算机科学、应用数学和信息理论的技术。这涉及到组合问题的研究，其解决方案为现有的和新的加密范式提供安全证明，并开发新的可证明的安全方法来加密来自任意域的数据。该项目确定了广泛部署的没有可证明安全保证的加密方法，在其组件和新框架上引入了新的假设，通过证明验证其安全性，并探讨了对称加密算法的效率和安全性之间的权衡。该项目将针对经济困难的高中生组织一年一度的密码学学院，以提高他们对计算机的兴趣和代表性。

Cryptography is essential to ensure confidentiality and integrity of information. Due to their practicality, symmetric algorithms ­­ where the same secret key is used by the sender and the recipient ­­ underlie most practical deployments of cryptographic techniques. However, also as a result of this, symmetric cryptography suffers from an inherent tension between real ­world efficiency demands and provable security guarantees. This project investigates new technical advances aimed at narrowing the gap between provable security and the practical demands of symmetric cryptography.The project develops new cryptographic algorithms and proof techniques, drawing from techniques in theoretical computer science, applied mathematics, and information theory. This involves the study of combinatorial problems whose solutions yield security proofs for existing and new encryption paradigms, and the development of new provably secure methods to encrypt data from arbitrary domains. The project identifies widely deployed cryptographic methods without provable security guarantees, introduces new assumptions on their components and new frameworks to validate their security with proofs, and explores the trade­off between efficiency and security of symmetric cryptographic algorithms. The project will organize an annual cryptography academy targeted at economically disadvantaged high-school students, to increase their interest and representation in computing.