This note describes a key exchange method based on the ring-LWE (RLWE)
assumption. It builds upon several results, including Regev's
landmark quantum reduction from certain worst case lattice problems
(approx. GapSVP and SIVP) to random instances of the search variant of
a particular learning problem (LWE). It also builds on the follow on
work of Lyubashevsky, Peikert and Regev on the average case hardness
of the RLWE search variant for polynomially bounded numbers of RLWE
samples, along with novel applications of automorphism groups in
number fields for a RLWE search to decision reduction (thereby
demonstrating pseudorandomness of RLWE in these number fields).
Subsequently, these results were adopted for the construction of
Diffie-Hellman like key exchange methods by Peikert, and then by
Lindner and Peikert followed by Ding and then by Ding, Xie and Lin who
proposed efficient variants of such protocols. Subsequent work by
Peikert proposed another efficient variant, phrased as a key
encapsulation method, incorporating a low bandwidth reconciliation
technique allowing two parties to exactly agree on a uniformly
distributed secret value from noisy RLWE instances. This was followed
by a concrete instantiation with parameter sets by Bos, Costello,
Naehrig, Stebila, followed by another instantiation by Alkim, Ducas,
Poppelmann and Schwabe with the same ring polynomial but a smaller
modulus and a different reconciliation method. Unlike most other
public key cryptography based key exchange methods, it is believed
that RLWE based key exchange would remain secure in the event that an
adversary is able to build a quantum computer. This document is a
product of the Crypto Forum Research Group (CFRG).
This note describes a key exchange method based on the ring-LWE (RLWE)
assumption. It builds upon several results, including Regev's
landmark quantum reduction from certain worst case lattice problems
(approx. GapSVP and SIVP) to random instances of the search variant of
a particular learning problem (LWE). It also builds on the follow on
work of Lyubashevsky, Peikert and Regev on the average case hardness
of the RLWE search variant for polynomially bounded numbers of RLWE
samples, along with novel applications of automorphism groups in
number fields for a RLWE search to decision reduction (thereby
demonstrating pseudorandomness of RLWE in these number fields).
Subsequently, these results were adopted for the construction of
Diffie-Hellman like key exchange methods by Peikert, and then by
Lindner and Peikert followed by Ding and then by Ding, Xie and Lin who
proposed efficient variants of such protocols. Subsequent work by
Peikert proposed another efficient variant, phrased as a key
encapsulation method, incorporating a low bandwidth reconciliation
technique allowing two parties to exactly agree on a uniformly
distributed secret value from noisy RLWE instances. This was followed
by a concrete instantiation with parameter sets by Bos, Costello,
Naehrig, Stebila, followed by another instantiation by Alkim, Ducas,
Poppelmann and Schwabe with the same ring polynomial but a smaller
modulus and a different reconciliation method. Unlike most other
public key cryptography based key exchange methods, it is believed
that RLWE based key exchange would remain secure in the event that an
adversary is able to build a quantum computer. This document is a
product of the Crypto Forum Research Group (CFRG).
Lattice-based cryptography stands at the forefront of contemporary cryptographic research, offering robust security guarantees that withstand the challenges posed by quantum computing. This research paper undertakes a comprehensive exploration of lattice-based key exchange protocols, with a specific and meticulous focus on the Ring Learning with Errors (RLWE) problem—a cornerstone in the lattice-based paradigm. In addition, the paper delves deeply into the innovative ding reconciliation technique, strategically employed to amplify the efficiency and effectiveness of RLWE-based key exchange protocols.Within this paper's purview lies a holistic examination of key concepts, intricacies, and recent developments in the field of lattice-based cryptography. The paper rigorously analyzes the theoretical foundations that underpin the security assurances of lattice-based protocols, particularly in the context of post-quantum cryptography. The RLWE problem, as a central tenet, is dissected to unveil its significance as a building block for cryptographic constructions, especially in the realm of key exchange.The integration of the ding reconciliation technique introduces an added layer of depth to the research. By elucidating the mechanics of this method, the paper showcases its role in streamlining the error correction process inherent in RLWE-based protocols. The reconciliation technique's contribution to efficiency is examined through both theoretical analysis and empirical validation, presenting a compelling case for its adoption in practical scenarios.Moreover, this paper critically surveys the landscape of recent developments in lattice-based cryptography, elucidating novel protocol designs, algorithmic optimizations, and real-world applications. The inherent challenges, ranging from computational complexity to practical implementation considerations, are scrutinized, providing a balanced perspective on the field's ongoing evolution.As the paper concludes, it consolidates the insights garnered from its comprehensive review, offering a panoramic understanding of lattice-based cryptography's inner workings. It outlines the broader implications of these cryptographic protocols in safeguarding digital communications and securing data transmission in a quantum-advantaged era. By synthesizing a comprehensive overview, this research paper aims to provide researchers, practitioners, and enthusiasts with a nuanced understanding of lattice-based cryptography, RLWE-based key exchange protocols, and the innovative ding reconciliation technique.
Abstract. Earlier in 2015, Bos, Costello, Naehrig, and Stebila (IEEE Security & Privacy 2015) proposed an instantiation of Peikert's ring-learning-with-errors (Ring-LWE) based key-exchange protocol (PQCrypto 2014), together with an implementation integrated into OpenSSL, with the affirmed goal of providing post-quantum security for TLS. In this work we revisit their instantiation and stand-alone implementation. Specif-ically, we propose new parameters and a better suited error distribu-tion, analyze the scheme's hardness against attacks by quantum com-puters in a conservative way, introduce a new and more efficient error-reconciliation mechanism, and propose a defense against backdoors and all-for-the-price-of-one attacks. By these measures and for the same lat-tice dimension, we more than double the security parameter, halve the communication overhead, and speed up computation by more than a fac-tor of 8 in a portable C implementation and by more than a factor of 20 in an optimized implementation targeting current Intel CPUs. These speedups are achieved with comprehensive protection against timing at-tacks.
Ring Learning With Errors (RLWE)-based key exchange is one of the most efficient and secure primitive for post-quantum cryptography. One common approach to achieve key exchange over RLWE is error reconciliation. Recently, an efficient attack against reconciliation-based RLWE key exchange protocols with reused keys was proposed. This attack can recover a long-term private key if a key pair is reused. We also know that in the real world, key reuse is commonly adopted in applications like the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol to improve performance. Directly motivated by this attack, we construct a new randomized RLWE-based key exchange protocol against this attack. Our lightweight approach incorporates an additional ephemeral public error term into key exchange materials, so that this attack no longer works. With the same attack, we practically show that the signal value of our protocol is indistinguishable from uniform random, therefore, this attack no longer works. We explain how the attack fails, present 200-bit classic and 80-bit quantum secure parameter choice, efficient implementations, comparisons and discussion. Benchmark shows our protocol is truly efficient and even faster than related vulnerable protocols.
Key Exchange is an essential primitive in cryptography that originated from the breakthrough idea of Diffie Hellman (DH) protocol presented in 1976.Following this work, there are many successful variants of DH using Elliptic curves, Isogeny and RLWE (Ring Learning with Errors).The Ring-Leaning with Errors (RLWE), Search and Decision version are hard problems in mathematics and it has been shown that solving worst case hard problems in ideal lattices can be reduced to solving RLWE in the average case.The reduction forms the basis of provable security for RLWE based key exchange against passive adversaries.The hardness of the decision version of RLWE, which means indistinguishability of RLWE samples from Uniform, makes it challenging to validate a RLWE form public key.This proves to be an advantage for malicious users to create public keys that deviate from a protocol to recover the secret of reused keys in Key Exchange (KE) protocols.In this thesis, we provide a cryptanalysis of RLWE key exchange, presenting two polynomial time strategies to exploit key reuse.Then we propose a defense against such exploits by presenting a Zero Knowledge authentication protocol to verify the prover's knowledge of a secret corresponding to his public key.The protocol is Statistical Zero Knowledge with negligible soundness and completeness errors so that the prover does not reveal any information about the secret in the proof.This is to ensure that a malicious verifier cannot impersonate the prover after the proof.The authentication protocol uses the signal function defined in RLWE key exchange to perform the verification.Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to my advisor Prof.Ding for his expert advice, strong encouragement and support throughout my PhD study
Lattice-based cryptographic primitives are believed to offer resilience against attacks by quantum computers. Following increasing interest from both companies and government agencies in building quantum computers, a number of works have proposed instantiations of practical post-quantum key-exchange protocols based on hard problems in lattices, mainly based on the Ring Learning With Errors (R-LWE) problem.\nIn this work we present an analysis of Ring-LWE based key-exchange mechanisms and compare two implementations of Ring-LWE based key-exchange protocol: BCNS and NewHope. This is important as NewHope protocol implementation outperforms state-of-the art elliptic curve based Diffie-Hellman key-exchange X25519, thus showing that using quantum safe key-exchange is not only a viable option but also a faster one. Specifically, this thesis compares different reconciliation methods, parameter choices, noise sampling algorithms and performance.
Lattice-based cryptographic primitives are believed to offer resilience against attacks by quantum computers. We demonstrate the practicality of post-quantum key exchange by constructing cipher suites for the Transport Layer Security (TLS) protocol that provide key exchange based on the ring learning with errors (R-LWE) problem, we accompany these cipher suites with a rigorous proof of security. Our approach ties lattice-based key exchange together with traditional authentication using RSA or elliptic curve digital signatures: the post-quantum key exchange provides forward secrecy against future quantum attackers, while authentication can be provided using RSA keys that are issued by today's commercial certificate authorities, smoothing the path to adoption. Our cryptographically secure implementation, aimed at the 128-bit security level, reveals that the performance price when switching from non-quantum-safe key exchange is not too high. With our R-LWE cipher suites integrated into the Open SSL library and using the Apache web server on a 2-core desktop computer, we could serve 506 RLWE-ECDSA-AES128-GCM-SHA256 HTTPS connections per second for a 10 KiB payload. Compared to elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman, this means an 8 KiB increased handshake size and a reduction in throughput of only 21%. This demonstrates that provably secure post-quantum key-exchange can already be considered practical.