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Accepted papers at Eurocrypt 2025
At this year's Annual International Conference on the Theory and Applications of Cryptographic Techniques, Eurocrypt for short - an important conference in the field of cryptography - two papers were accepted with the participation of ATHENE researchers.
The first paper presents new methods for improving authenticated encryption schemes. These methods protect both the confidentiality and the authenticity of data. The second paper introduces a new security model. This can process input from multiple sources simultaneously - an important capability that is lacking in the current Key Derivation Functions (KDFs). KDFs are currently considered the standard for secure Internet communications.
Accepted papers are:
Committing Authenticated Encryption: Generic Transforms with Hash Functions
Authors: Shan Chen, Vukašin Karadžić
More about the paper:
The researchers have developed new generic transforms utilizing standard hash functions to equip (authenticated) encryption schemes with strong committing security properties - a security goal that goes beyond the classical goals of privacy and authenticity. The presented transforms overcome limitations of existing solutions and can be used to build both basic AE and misuse-resistant AE schemes. They also show their transforms, implemented solely with API functions of popular cryptographic libraries, are efficient in practice, thereby opening the possibility for easier deployment of authenticated encryption with more robust security in modern cryptographic applications
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Key Derivation Functions Without a Grain of Salt
Authors: Matilda Backendal, Sebastian Clermont, Marc Fischlin, Felix Günther
More about the paper:
Key derivation functions (KDFs) are integral to many cryptographic protocols. Their functionality is to process raw key material, which is obtained during a key exchange, into a strong cryptographic key that is indistinguishable from random. Since the initial formalization of their security guarantees, the requirements for KDFs have fundamentally changed, primarily influenced by a more refined understanding of key exchange security and the gradual transition to post-quantum cryptography.
In their work, the researchers update the formal security guarantees to align them with the assumed security guarantees of these new constructions. Subsequent evaluation of these constructions has bolstered their confidence in the security of the key derivation function currently employed by Signal Messenger and the MLS standard.
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The researchers will present their papers at Eurocrypt 2025 in Madrid from Mai 4-8, 2025.
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