scholarly journals Device Independence and the Quest towards Physical Limits of Privacy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gopalan Raghavan

There is a looming threat over current methods of data encryption through advances in quantum computation. Interestingly, this potential threat can be countered through the use of quantum resources such as coherent superposition, entanglement and inherent randomness. These, together with non-clonability of arbitrary quantum states, offer provably secure means of sharing encryption keys between two parties. This physically assured privacy is however provably secure only in theory but not in practice. Device independent approaches seek to provide physically assured privacy of devices of untrusted origin. The quest towards realization of such devices is predicated on conducting loop-hole-free Bell tests which require the use of certified quantum random number generators. The experimental apparatuses for conducting such tests themselves use non-ideal sources, detectors and optical components making such certification extremely difficult. This expository chapter presents a brief overview (not a review) of Device Independence and the conceptual and practical difficulties it entails.

Entropy ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (11) ◽  
pp. 886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aldo Martínez ◽  
Aldo Solis ◽  
Rafael Díaz Hernández Rojas ◽  
Alfred U'Ren ◽  
Jorge Hirsch ◽  
...  

Pseudo-random number generators are widely used in many branches of science, mainly in applications related to Monte Carlo methods, although they are deterministic in design and, therefore, unsuitable for tackling fundamental problems in security and cryptography. The natural laws of the microscopic realm provide a fairly simple method to generate non-deterministic sequences of random numbers, based on measurements of quantum states. In practice, however, the experimental devices on which quantum random number generators are based are often unable to pass some tests of randomness. In this review, we briefly discuss two such tests, point out the challenges that we have encountered in experimental implementations and finally present a fairly simple method that successfully generates non-deterministic maximally random sequences.


Cryptography ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 8
Author(s):  
Bertrand Cambou ◽  
Donald Telesca ◽  
Sareh Assiri ◽  
Michael Garrett ◽  
Saloni Jain ◽  
...  

Schemes generating cryptographic keys from arrays of pre-formed Resistive Random Access (ReRAM) cells, called memristors, can also be used for the design of fast true random number generators (TRNG’s) of exceptional quality, while consuming low levels of electric power. Natural randomness is formed in the large stochastic cell-to-cell variations in resistance values at low injected currents in the pre-formed range. The proposed TRNG scheme can be designed with three interconnected blocks: (i) a pseudo-random number generator that acts as an extended output function to generate a stream of addresses pointing randomly at the array of ReRAM cells; (ii) a method to read the resistance values of these cells with a low injected current, and to convert the values into a stream of random bits; and, if needed, (iii) a method to further enhance the randomness of this stream such as mathematical, Boolean, and cryptographic algorithms. The natural stochastic properties of the ReRAM cells in the pre-forming range, at low currents, have been analyzed and demonstrated by measuring a statistically significant number of cells. Various implementations of the TRNGs with ReRAM arrays are presented in this paper.


Electronics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (13) ◽  
pp. 1517
Author(s):  
Xinsheng Wang ◽  
Xiyue Wang

True random number generators (TRNGs) have been a research hotspot due to secure encryption algorithm requirements. Therefore, such circuits are necessary building blocks in state-of-the-art security controllers. In this paper, a TRNG based on random telegraph noise (RTN) with a controllable rate is proposed. A novel method of noise array circuits is presented, which consists of digital decoder circuits and RTN noise circuits. The frequency of generating random numbers is controlled by the speed of selecting different gating signals. The results of simulation show that the array circuits consist of 64 noise source circuits that can generate random numbers by a frequency from 1 kHz to 16 kHz.


Cybersecurity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jingdian Ming ◽  
Yongbin Zhou ◽  
Huizhong Li ◽  
Qian Zhang

AbstractDue to its provable security and remarkable device-independence, masking has been widely accepted as a noteworthy algorithmic-level countermeasure against side-channel attacks. However, relatively high cost of masking severely limits its applicability. Considering the high tackling complexity of non-linear operations, most masked AES implementations focus on the security and cost reduction of masked S-boxes. In this paper, we focus on linear operations, which seems to be underestimated, on the contrary. Specifically, we discover some security flaws and redundant processes in popular first-order masked AES linear operations, and pinpoint the underlying root causes. Then we propose a provably secure and highly efficient masking scheme for AES linear operations. In order to show its practical implications, we replace the linear operations of state-of-the-art first-order AES masking schemes with our proposal, while keeping their original non-linear operations unchanged. We implement four newly combined masking schemes on an Intel Core i7-4790 CPU, and the results show they are roughly 20% faster than those original ones. Then we select one masked implementation named RSMv2 due to its popularity, and investigate its security and efficiency on an AVR ATMega163 processor and four different FPGA devices. The results show that no exploitable first-order side-channel leakages are detected. Moreover, compared with original masked AES implementations, our combined approach is nearly 25% faster on the AVR processor, and at least 70% more efficient on four FPGA devices.


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