A Novel Framework for Protocol Analysis

Ran Canetti

Mihir Bellare Y, Ran Canetti, Hugo Krawczyk

We present a general framework for constructing and analyzing authentication protocols in realistic models of communication networks. This framework provides a sound formalization for the authentication problem and suggests simple and attractive design principles for general authentication and key exchange protocols. The key element in our approach is a modular treatment of the authentication problem in cryptographic protocols; this applies to the definition of security, to the design of the protocols, and to their analysis. In particular, following this modular approach, we show how to systematically transform solutions that work in a model of idealized authenticated communications into solutions that are secure in the realistic setting of communication channels controlled by an active adversary. Using these principles we construct and prove the security of simple and practical authentication and key-exchange protocols. In particular, we provide a security analysis of some well-known key exchange protocols (e.g. authenticated Diffie-Hellman key exchange), and of some of the techniques underlying the design of several authentication protocols that are currently being

Santanu Majhi, Debajyoti Bera

Quantum communication protocols can be designed to detect eavesdropping attacks, something that classical technologies are unable to do since classical information can be replicated in a non-destructive manner. Eavesdropping detection is, therefore, a standard feature in all the proposed quantum secret sharing (QSS) protocols. However, detection is often done by a statistical analysis of the outcome of multiple decoy rounds, and this causes a significant communication overhead. In our quest for a QSS protocol that works even in one round, we came across a one-shot secret-sharing framework proposed by Hsu (Phys. Rev. A 2003). The scheme was designed to work over public channels without requiring multiple rounds to detect eavesdropping but it lacked a thorough security analysis. In this work we present a complete characterisation of the correctness and security properties of this framework. Our characterisation allowed us to improve the original protocol to be more resistant towards eavesdropping. However, we prove a couple of impossibility results, including one that dictates that complete security against an eavesdropper is not possible in this framework. Thus, it is not possible to design a perfect QSS using this framework.

Véronique Cortier, Bogdan Warinschi, Eugen Zălinescu

Devashish Tupkary, Shlok Nahar, Amir Arqand +2 more

We present a rigorous and complete security proof of the decoy-state BB84 quantum key distribution (QKD) protocol. Our analysis aims to achieve a high standard of mathematical rigour and completeness, thereby providing the necessary foundation for certification and standardization efforts. Beyond establishing the security of a specific protocol, this work develops a general and modular framework that can be readily adapted to a broad class of QKD protocols, including both prepare-and-measure and entanglement-based variants. Our framework unifies all major ingredients required for the analysis of realistic QKD protocols, including the analysis of classical authentication and classical processing, source-replacement schemes, finite-size analysis, source maps, squashing maps, and decoy-state techniques. In doing so, this work consolidates a diverse range of techniques scattered across the QKD literature into a unified formalism, representing a general and rigorous treatment of QKD security. Finally, it outlines a clear path towards incorporating practical imperfections within the same framework, thereby laying the groundwork for addressing implementation security in future analysis.

Richard A. DeMillo, Nancy Ann Lynch, Michael Merritt