Hierarchical Identity-based Cryptography Research Articles

Enhancing Security and Trust in Named Data Networking using Hierarchical Identity Based Cryptography

Named data networking (NDN) represents a promising clean slate for future internet architecture. It adopts the information-centric networking (ICN) approach that treats named data as the central element, leverages in-network caching, and uses a data-centric security model. This model is built mainly in the addition of a signature to each of the recovered data. However, the signature verification requires the appropriate public key. To trust this key, multiple models were proposed. In this article, the authors analyze security and trust in NDN, to deduct the limits of the already proposed solutions. They propose a security extension that strengthens security and builds trust in used keys. The main idea of this extension is the derivation of these keys from data name, by using hierarchical identity-based cryptography (HIBC). To confirm the safety of the new proposal, a formal security analysis is provided. To evaluate its efficiency, a performance evaluation is performed. It proves that by adopting the proposed extension, performance is comparable, even better in some cases than plain NDN.

A Provably-Secure Cross-Domain Handshake Scheme with Symptoms-Matching for Mobile Healthcare Social Network

With rapid developments of sensor, wireless and mobile communication technologies, Mobile Healthcare Social Networks (MHSNs) have emerged as a popular means of communication in healthcare services. Within MHSNs, patients can use their mobile devices to securely share their experiences, broaden their understanding of the illness or symptoms, form a supportive network, and transmit information (e.g., state of health and new symptoms) between users and other stake holders (e.g., medical center). Despite the benefits afforded by MHSNs, there are underlying security and privacy issues (e.g., due to the transmission of messages via a wireless channel). The handshake scheme is an important cryptographic mechanism, which can provide secure communication in MHSNs (e.g., anonymity and mutual authentication between users, such as patients). In this paper, we present a new framework for the handshake scheme in MHSNs, which is based on hierarchical identity-based cryptography. We then construct an efficient Cross-Domain HandShake (CDHS) scheme that allows symptoms-matching within MHSNs. For example, using the proposed CDHS scheme, two patients registered with different healthcare centers can achieve mutual authentication and generate a session key for future secure communications. We then prove the security of the scheme, and a comparative summary demonstrates that the proposed CDHS scheme requires fewer computation and lower communication costs. We also implement the proposed CDHS scheme and three related schemes in a proof of concept Android app to demonstrate utility of the scheme. Findings from the evaluations demonstrate that the proposed CDHS scheme achieves a reduction of 18.14 and 5.41 percent in computation cost and communication cost, in comparison to three other related handshake schemes.

A Flexible Method Using Identity Based Message Key Distribution for Securing Workflow Signatures

The increase in advancement of information technology led the migration of workflows from paper based to electronic workflow systems. Basically a workflow consists of a number of tasks and each of these tasks should be authenticated by using any of the cryptographic techniques. To provide more security within workflow systems, signing keys are used. In addition to data authenticity and integrity, logical relationships such as AND- join and AND-split are to be provided in a workflow signature scheme. Such a scheme was experimentally proven which is based on hierarchical identity-based cryptography to meet security properties required by inter-organizational workflows. Due its high complexity, a new mechanism, IB-MKD (Identity Based Message Key Distribution) is proposed as an alternative to HIBS, which is achieved with conventional RSA without any additional assumptions and limitations and it is believed to have less overhead.

New Constructions of Hierarchical Attribute-Based Encryption for Fine-Grained Access Control in Cloud Computing

Cloud computing has emerged as perhaps the hottest development in information technology at present. This new computing technology requires that the users ensure that their infrastructure is safety and that their data and applications are protected. In addition, the customer must ensure that the provider has taken the proper security measures to protect their information. In order to achieve fine-grained and flexible access control for cloud computing, a new construction of hierarchical attribute-based encryption(HABE) with Ciphertext-Policy is proposed in this paper. The proposed scheme inherits flexibility and delegation of hierarchical identity-based cryptography, and achieves scalability due to the hierarchical structure. The new scheme has constant size ciphertexts since it consists of two group elements. In addition, the security of the new construction is achieved in the standard model which avoids the potential defects in the existing works. Under the decision bilinear Diffie-Hellman exponent assumption, the proposed scheme is provable security against Chosen-plaintext Attack(CPA). Furthermore, we also show the proposed scheme can be transferred to a CCA(Chosen-ciphertext Attack) secure scheme.

Workflow Signatures for Business Process Compliance

Interorganizational workflow systems play a fundamental role in business partnerships. We introduce and investigate the concept of workflow signatures. Not only can these signatures be used to ensure authenticity and protect integrity of workflow data, but also to prove the sequence and logical relationships, such as AND-join and AND-split, of a workflow. Hence, workflow signatures can be electronic evidence useful for auditing, that is proving compliance of business processes against some regulatory requirements. Furthermore, signing keys can be used to grant permissions to perform tasks. Since the signing keys are issued on-the-fly, authorization to execute a task within a workflow can be controlled and granted dynamically at runtime. In this paper, we propose a concrete workflow signature scheme, which is based on hierarchical identity-based cryptography, to meet security properties required by interorganizational workflows.

HIERARCHICAL IDENTITY-BASED PROXY RE-ENCRYPTION WITHOUT RANDOM ORACLES

In a proxy re-encryption scheme, a semi-trusted proxy converts a ciphertext for Alice into a ciphertext for Bob without seeing the underlying plaintext. A number of solutions have been proposed in public key settings. Hierarchical identity-based cryptography is a generalization of identity-based encryption that mirrors an organizational hierarchy, which allows a root private key generator to distribute the workload by delegating private key generation and identity authentication to lower-level private key generators. In this paper, we propose a hierarchical identity-based proxy re-encryption (HIBPRE) scheme which achieves IND-PrID-CCA2 security without random oracles. This is the first HIBPRE scheme up to now, and our scheme satisfies unidirectionality, non-interactivity and permits multiple re-encryptions.

CCA2 secure (hierarchical) identity-based parallel key-insulated encryption without random oracles

In order to mitigate the damages of key-exposure, key-insulated encryption introduces a helper key used to periodically update the decryption key. Under the usual circumstances, frequent updating increases the risk of helper key-exposure. Parallel key-insulated encryption (PKIE) supports frequent key updates without increasing the risk of helper key-exposure. In an identity-based cryptosystem, a private key generator (PKG) uses a master secret key to issue private keys to users based on their identities. In this paper, we propose a new identity-based parallel key-insulated encryption (IBPKIE) scheme which achieves IND-ID-KI-CCA2 security without random oracles. Our IBPKIE scheme has short public parameters and a tight reduction with an additive factor. Hierarchical identity-based cryptography was first proposed in 2002. It allows a root PKG to distribute workload by delegating private key generation and entity authentication tasks to lower-level PKGs. In this paper, we formalize the syntax and security model for a hierarchical identity-based parallel key-insulated encryption (HIBPKIE) scheme. We then propose an HIBPKIE scheme with constant size ciphertext, and prove that it achieves IND-ID-KI-CCA2 security without random oracles. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first HIBPKIE scheme up to now.