Public Key Service for Quantum-Resistant Message Authentication
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing asymmetric cryptography is susceptible to quantum computing attacks, and quantum computing attack-resistant authentication schemes are computationally expensive, require large storage, or both, making them impractical for lightweight devices like IoT devices.
Innovation Solution
A public key service generates and provides public keys to receiving devices, trusted by the receiving devices, to authenticate messages from sending devices, using quantum computing attack-resistant cryptographic hash functions and Merkle trees, reducing computational burden and storage requirements on the sending devices.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If quantum computing attack-resistant authentication schemes are used, then security against quantum computing attacks is improved, but computational cost and storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
A public key service acts as an intermediary between sending and receiving devices. The service generates and manages Merkle trees and public keys, providing them to devices as needed. This mediator approach allows lightweight devices to benefit from quantum-resistant authentication without bearing the computational burden of generating and managing complex cryptographic structures themselves.
Solution Approach 2:
The public key service performs preliminary actions by pre-generating Merkle trees and public keys before they are needed by the authentication devices. The service can generate these cryptographic structures in advance, store them, and provide them to devices when requested, eliminating the need for devices to perform computationally expensive operations at the moment of authentication.
2Reliability
If quantum computing attack-resistant authentication schemes are used, then security against quantum computing attacks is improved, but storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The public key service serves as an intermediary that stores and manages large cryptographic structures (Merkle trees) on its side rather than on lightweight devices. When a device needs authentication, the service provides only the necessary public keys or authentication paths, dramatically reducing the storage burden on the device while maintaining security.
Solution Approach 2:
The heavy storage requirements for Merkle trees are extracted from the authentication devices and relocated to the public key service. The service holds the complete Merkle trees, while devices only need to store small portions (public keys or authentication paths), effectively separating the storage burden from the authentication function.
3Adaptability or versatility
If Merkle trees are generated and stored on sending devices, then message authentication capability is improved, but device resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The public key service acts as an intermediary that handles the resource-intensive tasks of generating and storing Merkle trees. Sending devices can request authentication materials from the service without needing to generate or store large Merkle trees themselves, significantly reducing their energy consumption and resource usage while maintaining full authentication capability.
Data Source
AI summary
A public key service determines a seed value used by a sending device to generate a one-time signature (OTS) private key that the sending device uses to digitally sign a message before sending the message to a receiving device. The public key service generates, based on the seed value, a public key used to authenticate the digitally signed message as having been sent by the sending device. The public key service receives a request for the public key from the receiving device, and in response sends the public key to the receiving device, such that the receiving device is able to authenticate the message.