Collaborative Research: Conference: Special Trimester on Post-Quantum Algebraic Cryptography

Cuny City College, New York NY

Investigators

Abstract

This award funds participation by US-based researchers in a special trimester on Post-quantum algebraic cryptography, to be held at the The Henri Poincare Institute, Paris, France, September 9 - December 13, 2024. In recent years, there has been a substantial amount of research on quantum computers -- machines that exploit quantum mechanical phenomena to solve mathematical problems that are difficult or intractable for conventional computers. If large-scale quantum computers are ever built, they will be able to break many of the public-key cryptosystems currently in use. This would seriously compromise the confidentiality and integrity of digital communications on the Internet and elsewhere. The goal of post-quantum cryptography is to develop cryptographic systems that are secure against both quantum and classical computers, and can interoperate with existing communications protocols and networks. The thematic trimester program will bring together researchers and practitioners from academia, industry, and government institutions with diverse backgrounds to discuss quantum algorithms, quantum-safe cryptography, as well as deployment issues, from different angles. This thematic trimester program will address various proposed cryptographic primitives that are currently considered to be quantum-safe. This includes lattice-based, multivariate, code-based, hash-based, group-based, and other primitives some of which were considered by NIST during their post-quantum standardization process. Our program will also address various functionalities of cryptographic constructions that are in high demand in real life. This includes fully homomorphic encryption that provides for private search on encrypted database and machine learning on encrypted data. Another functionality that is getting increasingly popular is outsourcing (a.k.a. delegating) computation of algebraic functions including group exponentiation, product of group exponentiations, etc., from a computationally limited client holding an input and a description of a function, to a computationally stronger entity holding a description of the same function. Further information can be found at the program website: https://www.ihp.fr/en/events/post-quantum-algebraic-cryptography-paris This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.