| NSF Org: |
CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems |
| Recipient: |
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| Initial Amendment Date: | July 26, 2016 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 26, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1619158 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: |
Nina Amla
namla@nsf.gov (703)292-7991 CNS Division Of Computer and Network Systems CSE Directorate for Computer and Information Science and Engineering |
| Start Date: | September 1, 2016 |
| End Date: | August 31, 2020 (Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $500,000.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $500,000.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: |
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| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
70 WASHINGTON SQ S NEW YORK NY US 10012-1019 (212)998-2121 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: |
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| Primary Place of Performance: |
251 Mercer Street New York NY US 10012-1110 |
| Primary Place of
Performance Congressional District: |
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| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
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| Parent UEI: |
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| NSF Program(s): | Secure &Trustworthy Cyberspace |
| Primary Program Source: |
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| Program Reference Code(s): |
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| Program Element Code(s): |
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| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.070 |
ABSTRACT
This project revisits the basic design principle for constructing secure hash functions, block ciphers, and various important cryptographic primitives which are built from them, by investigating new types of constructions that are based on firmer theoretical foundations, and yet are still efficient enough for practical use. In particular, the project focuses on analyzing and improving the use of hash functions and block ciphers as message digests, key derivation functions, message authentication codes, stream ciphers, commitment schemes and random oracles. Additionally, the investigators study novel modes of operation to build complex variable-length primitives from simpler, fixed length components, such as block ciphers and fixed-length compression functions. The project also examines the feasibility of provably immunizing cryptographic algorithms and standards against potentially unknown backdoors. Finally, the project builds firmer foundations for analyzing cryptographic schemes in the idealized security models, such as the random oracle and the ideal cipher models.
The project aims to yield more secure hash functions and block ciphers, and more secure and/or efficient usage of hash functions and block ciphers in important cryptographic applications. Besides advancing the theory of cryptography, this project also impacts the real-world design of secure systems, by suggesting more sound use of various cryptographic building blocks for such applications. The PI regularly teaches courses in cryptography and network security, and is actively incorporating the new results into the courses he teaches. In addition, the proposal has a significant graduate student and postdoc training component.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The goal of this project was to try to bridge the gap between the theory and the practice of cryptography, focusing on the important question of designing and analyzing new and existing hash functions and block ciphers, as well as other primitives derived from them, that are practical and yet theoretically sound. The following outcomes were obtained:
(1) constructions of novel firewalls for secure message transmission, allowing Alice to securely send a message to Bob even if she cannot trust her own computer;
(2) analyzing security of cryptographic primitives against powerful preprocessing attacks.
(3) a novel way to use hash functions for designing typo correction in password authentication schemes, which allows to correct more errors than before, without degrading security.
(4) Fast message franking schemes, which enable cryptographically verifiable reporting of abusive content in end-to-end encrypted messaging.
(5) Novel security of block ciphers based on substitution-permutation networks, which includes the current Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) ubiquitously used everywhere.
(6) Novel analysis and improvements of the famous Signal protocol used by billions of people, by virtue of many secure text messaging applications including Signal itself, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and Skype.
(7) Novel secure key-derivation functions based on existing hash functions, including industry-standard hash functions SHA-2 and SHA-3, or HMAC.
As the result, the project delivered not only more secure hash functions and block ciphers, but also validated improved use of these primitives in important cryptographic applications, such as secure communication, end-to-end-encryption, and password authentication.
The project funded several PhD students and a postdoctoral fellow. In addition to doing research, the students/postdoc also gained valuable experience in writing the papers and presenting the results in top-tier research conferences. The project resulted in publications in several major research conferences, such as CRYPTO and Eurocrypt. The PI also gave several research talks at a variety of venues, including universities, workshops and invited lectures. Some of the results, such as improved analysis of the Signal protocol, and better understanding of the AES standard, were already incorporated into teaching.
Last Modified: 01/02/2021
Modified by: Yevgeniy Dodis
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