Tweaking the Asymmetry of Asymmetric-Key Cryptography on Lattices: KEMs and Signatures of Smaller Sizes

  • Jiang Zhang*
  • , Yu Yu
  • , Shuqin Fan
  • , Zhenfeng Zhang
  • , Kang Yang
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

31 Scopus citations

Abstract

Currently, lattice-based cryptosystems are less efficient than their number-theoretic counterparts (based on RSA, discrete logarithm, etc.) in terms of key and ciphertext (signature) sizes. For adequate security the former typically needs thousands of bytes while in contrast the latter only requires at most hundreds of bytes. This significant difference has become one of the main concerns in replacing currently deployed public-key cryptosystems with lattice-based ones. Observing the inherent asymmetries in existing lattice-based cryptosystems, we propose asymmetric variants of the (module-)LWE and (module-)SIS assumptions, which yield further size-optimized KEM and signature schemes than those from standard counterparts. Following the framework of Lindner and Peikert (CT-RSA 2011) and the Crystals-Kyber proposal (EuroS&P 2018), we propose an IND-CCA secure KEM scheme from the hardness of the asymmetric module-LWE (AMLWE), whose asymmetry is fully exploited to obtain shorter public keys and ciphertexts. To target at a 128-bit quantum security, the public key (resp., ciphertext) of our KEM only has 896 bytes (resp., 992 bytes). Our signature scheme bears most resemblance to and improves upon the Crystals-Dilithium scheme (ToCHES 2018). By making full use of the underlying asymmetric module-LWE and module-SIS assumptions and carefully selecting the parameters, we construct an SUF-CMA secure signature scheme with shorter public keys and signatures. For a 128-bit quantum security, the public key (resp., signature) of our signature scheme only has 1312 bytes (resp., 2445 bytes). We adapt the best known attacks and their variants to our AMLWE and AMSIS problems and conduct a comprehensive and thorough analysis of several parameter choices (aiming at different security strengths) and their impacts on the sizes, security and error probability of lattice-based cryptosystems. Our analysis demonstrates that AMLWE and AMSIS problems admit more flexible and size-efficient choices of parameters than the respective standard versions.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationPublic-Key Cryptography - PKC 2020 - 23rd IACR International Conference on Practice and Theory of Public-Key Cryptography, Proceedings
EditorsAggelos Kiayias, Markulf Kohlweiss, Petros Wallden, Vassilis Zikas
PublisherSpringer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages37-65
Number of pages29
ISBN (Print)9783030453879
DOIs
StatePublished - 2020
Externally publishedYes
Event23rd IACR International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Public-Key Cryptography, PKC 2020 - Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Duration: 4 May 20207 May 2020

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science
Volume12111 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference23rd IACR International Conference on the Practice and Theory of Public-Key Cryptography, PKC 2020
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityEdinburgh
Period4/05/207/05/20

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