CAREER: Concurrent Security Against Quantum Adversaries

The prospects of quantum computers have had a significant impact on recent developments in cryptography. Quantum computers provide new types of capabilities that enable exciting new cryptosystems. At the same time, they give rise to a range of new and significantly more powerful attacks. A major current focus in cryptography is on the development of foundational techniques for constructing and analyzing cryptosystems in the presence of quantum attackers. This project develops secure computation protocols that maintain their security against quantum attackers. The project focuses on achieving security in the concurrent setting where coordinated attacks from several adversarially controlled sessions can be launched. As part of this main goal, the project investigates a number of foundational tools and techniques that are necessary for concurrent security but currently unknown to exist against quantum attackers. Some core examples include non-malleable protocols for commitments and zero-knowledge to protect against man-in-the-middle attacks, concurrent zero-knowledge, super-polynomial simulation under polynomial hardness, and universally composable security. The project helps answer many of the open questions in post-quantum secure-computation, which could lead to the development of post-quantum secure building blocks and secure computation protocols of general interest. The project is actively engaged in training and outreach activities that contribute to building a skilled and diverse national workforce. 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.