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复原力。大多数成功的研究都集中在开发密码协议，只要某些信息(即密钥)对对手保密就是安全的。然而，随着这样的算法越来越多地部署在廉价、移动和不受保护的设备(例如笔记本电脑、移动电话和PDA)上，密钥暴露的风险正在成为许多现实世界系统的严重威胁。该项目旨在开发新的范例并设计有效的算法，即使在发生密钥暴露攻击时也能保持安全。在其他主题中，该项目将侧重于(1)前向安全公钥加密；(2)密钥交换协议中的前向保密性；以及(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许多不同系统的安全性，从手持设备到自组织网络。研究生将参与到这个项目的各个方面，本科生也将受到鼓励。这项研究产生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。在这些方面，该项目将帮助培训未来的科学家在重要的信息安全领域。

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.