CAREER: Efficient Cryptographic Protocols for Secure and Private Electronic Transactions

Brown University, Providence RI

Investigators

Abstract

NCS-0347661 CAREER: Efficient Cryptographic Protocols for Secure and Private Cryptographic Transactions PI: Anna Lysyanskaya A typical computer user performs a multitude of electronic transactions each day: reading e-mail, managing bank accounts, making on-line purchases, to name a few. Each of them must be secure: they should be carried out by authorized users only, and the information entered must be authentic. On the other hand, each transaction should be private: personal information or account balances should not become available without a user's explicit consent. Since data aggregation is simple to do, it is highly desirable to limit the information transmitted in each transaction to a bare minimum without compromising its authenticity. Cryptographic schemes that make this possible are the intended direct outcome of this research. This project investigates the security requirements of the basic protocols that a system for secure and private electronic transactions would comprise and develops efficient and provably secure digital signature schemes and other primitives that lend themselves to the design of such protocols. The chief method for achieving these results is to build upon existing highly theoretical foundations using practical buiding blocks. Since this project develops provable guarantees that personal information will not be abused, its broader impact is in protecting the privacy of computer users.