The bounded quantum storage model aims to achieve security against computationally unbounded adversaries that are restricted only with respect to their quantum memories. In this work, we provide information-theoretic secure constructions in this model for the following powerful primitives: (1) CCA1-secure symmetric key encryption, message authentication codes, and one-time programs. These schemes require no quantum memory for the honest user, while they can be made secure against adversaries with arbitrarily large memories by increasing the transmission length sufficiently. (2) CCA1-secure asymmetric key encryption, encryption tokens, signatures, signature tokens, and program broadcast. These schemes are secure against adversaries with roughly $e^{\sqrt{m}}$ quantum memory where $m$ is the quantum memory required for the honest user. All of the constructions additionally satisfy disappearing security, essentially preventing an adversary from storing and using a transmission later on.
The bounded quantum storage model aims to achieve security against computationally unbounded adversaries that are restricted only with respect to their quantum memories. In this work, we provide information-theoretic secure constructions in this model for the following powerful primitives: (1) CCA1-secure symmetric key encryption, message authentication codes, and one-time programs. These schemes require no quantum memory for the honest user, while they can be made secure against adversaries with arbitrarily large memories by increasing the transmission length sufficiently. (2) CCA1-secure asymmetric key encryption, encryption tokens, signatures, signature tokens, and program broadcast. These schemes are secure against adversaries with roughly em quantum memory where m is the quantum memory required for the honest user. All of the constructions additionally satisfy disappearing security, essentially preventing an adversary from storing and using a transmission later on.
The bounded quantum storage model aims to achieve security against computationally unbounded adversaries that are restricted only with respect to their quantum memories. In this work, we provide the following contributions in this model: 1) We build one-time programs and utilize them to construct CCA1-secure symmetric key encryption and message authentication codes. These schemes require no quantum memory from honest users, yet they provide information-theoretic security against adversaries with arbitrarily large quantum memories, as long as the transmission length is suitably large. 2) We introduce the notion of k-time program broadcast which is a form of program encryption that allows multiple users to each learn a single evaluation of the encrypted program, while preventing any one user from learning more than k evaluations of the program. We build this primitive unconditionally and employ it to construct CCA1-secure asymmetric key encryption, encryption tokens, signatures, and signature tokens. All these schemes are information-theoretically secure against adversaries with roughly e^√m quantum memory where m is the quantum memory required for the honest user. All of the constructions additionally satisfy disappearing security, essentially preventing an adversary from storing and using a transmission later on.
We consider the problem of secure identification: user U proves to server S that he knows an agreed (possibly low-entropy) password w, while giving away as little information on w as possible, namely the adversary can exclude at most one possible password for each execution of the scheme. We propose a solution in the bounded-quantum-storage model, where U and S may exchange qubits, and a dishonest party is assumed to have limited quantum memory. No other restriction is posed upon the adversary. An improved version of the proposed identification scheme is also secure against a man-in-the-middle attack, but requires U and S to additionally share a high-entropy key k. However, security is still guaranteed if one party loses k to the attacker but notices the loss. In both versions of the scheme, the honest participants need no quantum memory, and noise and imperfect quantum sources can be tolerated. The schemes compose sequentially, and w and k can securely be re-used. A small modification to the identification scheme results in a quantum-key-distribution (QKD) scheme, secure in the bounded-quantum-storage model, with the same re-usability properties of the keys, and without assuming authenticated channels. This is in sharp contrast to known QKD schemes (with unbounded adversary) without authenticated channels, where authentication keys must be updated, and unsuccessful executions can cause the parties to run out of keys.
We consider the problem of secure identification: user U proves to server S that he knows an agreed (possibly low-entropy) password w, while giving away as little information on w as possible, namely the adversary can exclude at most one possible password for each execution of the scheme. We propose a solution in the bounded-quantum-storage model, where U and S may exchange qubits, and a dishonest party is assumed to have limited quantum memory. No other restriction is posed upon the adversary. An improved version of the proposed identification scheme is also secure against a man-in-the-middle attack, but requires U and S to additionally share a high-entropy key k. However, security is still guaranteed if one party loses k to the attacker but notices the loss. In both versions of the scheme, the honest participants need no quantum memory, and noise and imperfect quantum sources can be tolerated. The schemes compose sequentially, and w and k can securely be re-used. A small modification to the identification scheme results in a quantum-key-distribution (QKD) scheme, secure in the bounded-quantum-storage model, with the same re-usability properties of the keys, and without assuming authenticated channels. This is in sharp contrast to known QKD schemes (with unbounded adversary) without authenticated channels, where authentication keys must be updated, and unsuccessful executions can cause the parties to run out of keys.
In the bounded-storage model for information-theoretically secure encryption and key-agreement one can prove the security of a cipher based on the sole assumption that the adversary's storage capacity is bounded, say by s bits, even if her computational power is unlimited. Assume that a random t-bit string R is either publicly available (e.g. the signal of a deep space radio source) or broadcast by one of the legitimate parties. If s < t, the adversary can store only partial information about R. The legitimate sender Alice and receiver Bob, sharing a short secret key K initially, can therefore potentially generate a very long n-bit one-time pad X with n jKj about which the adversary has essentially no information, thus at rst glance apparently contradicting Shannon's bound on the key size of a perfect cipher.
Quantum cryptography is a rapidly-developing area which leverages quantum information to accomplish classically-impossible tasks. In many of these protocols, quantum states are used as long-term cryptographic keys. Typically, this is to ensure the keys cannot be copied by an adversary, owing to the quantum no-cloning theorem. Unfortunately, due to quantum state's tendency to decohere, persistent quantum memory will likely be one of the most challenging resources for quantum computers. As such, it will be important to minimize persistent memory in quantum protocols.
In this work, we consider the case of one-shot signatures (OSS), and more general quantum signing tokens. These are important unclonable primitives, where quantum signing keys allow for signing a single message but not two. Naturally, these quantum signing keys would require storage in long-term quantum memory. Very recently, the first OSS was constructed in a classical oracle model and also in the standard model, but we observe that the quantum memory required for these protocols is quite large. In this work, we significantly decrease the quantum secret key size, in some cases achieving asymptotically optimal size. To do so, we develop novel techniques for proving the security of cryptosystems using coset states, which are one of the main tools used in unclonable cryptography.
This thesis initiates the study of cryptographic protocols in the bounded-quantum-storage model. On the practical side, simple protocols for Rabin Oblivious Transfer, 1-2 Oblivious Transfer and Bit Commitment are presented. No quantum memory is required for honest players, whereas the protocols can only be broken by an adversary controlling a large amount of quantum memory. The protocols are efficient, non-interactive and can be implemented with today's technology. On the theoretical side, new entropic uncertainty relations involving min-entropy are established and used to prove the security of protocols according to new strong security definitions. For instance, in the realistic setting of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) against quantum-memory-bounded eavesdroppers, the uncertainty relation allows to prove the security of QKD protocols while tolerating considerably higher error rates compared to the standard model with unbounded adversaries.