CAREER: Foundations of Unclonable Cryptography

技术的进步为保护用户的敏感信息带来了新的密码挑战。经典计算在解决某些加密挑战方面有特定的限制。量子力学的出现为探索替代方法提供了一个独特的机会，这些方法可以通过利用量子力学的不可克隆原理来克服这些限制并提供增强的安全保证。无克隆意味着不可能创造出量子信息的精确副本。这为解决仅用经典计算机无法解决的问题提供了一条很有前途的途径。该项目的首要目标是开发不可克隆密码学的基础。该项目伴随着一项全面的教育计划，旨在通过新课程开发、座谈系列、本科速成课程吸引本科生参与研究，并伴随着利用UCSB早期学者计划和加利福尼亚州加州桥计划的招聘努力。与该项目相关的主要目标有三个。第一个目标是提出和研究加密方案和数字签名的新概念，这些方案和数字签名配备了用于保护秘密密钥的稳健保证。该方法利用了使用量子态的证人加密过程。第二个目标是提出和研究新的密码概念，通过利用由公共验证增强的伪随机函数的性质来防止未经授权的软件分发。第三个也是最后一个目标是提出新的框架、证明技术和黑盒分离，这将导致对不可克隆密码学领域的更深入理解，并与经典密码学的不可区分混淆在概念上有相似之处。这些方向预计将使不可克隆的密码学建立在更坚实的理论基础上。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Advancements in technology bring forth new cryptographic challenges for safeguarding the sensitive information of users. Classical computing has specific limitations in addressing certain cryptographic challenges. The emergence of quantum mechanics provides a unique opportunity to explore alternative approaches that can overcome these limitations and offer enhanced security guarantees, by exploiting the no-cloning principle of quantum mechanics. No-cloning means that it is impossible to create an exact copy of quantum information. This offers a promising avenue to tackle problems that are otherwise impossible to solve solely using classical computers. The overarching goal of this project is to develop the foundations of unclonable cryptography. The project is accompanied by a comprehensive education plan to engage undergraduate students in research through new course development, colloquia series, undergraduate crash courses, and accompanied by recruitment efforts that leverage the UCSB Early Scholars program and the California Cal-Bridge program.There are three main aims associated with the project. The first aim is to propose and study novel notions of encryption schemes and digital signatures equipped with robust guarantees for protecting secret keys. The approach exploits a witness encryption procedure using a quantum state. The second aim is to propose and study new cryptographic notions to protect against the unauthorized distribution of software, by leveraging properties of pseudorandom functions augmented by public verification. The third and final aim is to propose new frameworks, proof techniques, and black-box separations that will lead to a deeper understanding of the area of unclonable cryptography, and having conceptual parallels with indistinguishability obfuscation of classical cryptography. These directions are expected to place unclonable cryptography on more solid theoretical footing.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.