Theoretical Computer Science
Lattice-based logarithmic-size forward-secure ring signatures in QROM
Priyanka Dutta, Willy Susilo, Fuchun Guo, Dung Hoang Duong
Abstract
Ring signatures, a novel cryptographic primitive, were introduced by Rivest, Shamir, and Tauman at ASIACRYPT 2001. It allows a member of a group to sign a message on behalf of an ad-hoc group of users, known as a ring, without revealing its identity. Ring signatures, initially introduced for applications such as whistle-blowing and confidential disclosures, have since gained significant relevance and widespread adoption across various domains, including blockchain technologies, ad-hoc networks, anonymous transactions, location-based services, cloud computing platforms, and outsourced computation. However, traditional ring signatures are vulnerable if the signers’ keys are compromised. To resolve this vulnerability, Liu and Wong introduced the notion of forward-secure ring signatures at IJNS 2008. Forward-security ensures that even if a signer’s secret key is compromised, signatures generated in prior time periods remain secure. It significantly reduces the damage caused by secret key exposure, making it crucial for long-term security in applications such as whistle-blowing or anonymous authentication. However, most existing forward-secure ring signature schemes are based on number-theoretic assumptions, making them vulnerable to quantum adversaries. Yu and Wang proposed a quantum-safe forward-secure ring signature scheme at ICICS 2023, and Yu et al. further extended this work in Computer Networks (2025), retaining the same ring signature scheme with forward security. But the scheme suffers from large signatures that grow linearly with the ring size. In this paper, we propose a lattice-based forward-secure ring signature scheme in the quantum random oracle model ( QROM ) that simultaneously achieves security against quantum adversaries and compact signature size. Notably, the signature size is logarithmic in the number of members in the ring, enabling significantly better scalability compared to prior constructions.