High-Assurance Cryptography

Abstract

The implementation of secure and efficient cryptographic libraries is a complex task that requires deep knowledge from various branches of mathematics and computer science. Because of this inherent complexity, developing secure cryptographic software is a daunting task, that is carried by a selected group of experts. A recent stream of highly publicized attacks on widely used cryptographic protocols, libraries, and software: Lucky Thirteen (2013), HeartBleed (2014), Freak (2014), Logjam (2015), CacheBleed (2016), Drown (2016), and RoCA (2017) highlights shortcomings of existing cryptographic software. While many of these attacks are implementation-specific, shortcomings permeate through all levels of cryptographic design and implementation. Most notably, the correctness and verifiability of security proofs has been a repeated source of concern. Our vision is that implementation and design issues can be addressed together, through new methods and tools that help domain experts deliver efficient and high-assurance implementations. The project will contribute to the emergence of high-assurance cryptography through the design and security analysis of key components for a high-assurancecryptographic toolbox (in particular, RNGs, proof systems). In addition, this project will develop new tools and methods for building high-assurance cryptographic implementations. The HACrypt project is a continuation of the Autocrypt and SynCrypt projects and will build on the results developed in those projects.

Document Details

Document Type
DoD Grant Award
Publication Date
Aug 15, 2019
Source ID
N000141912292

Entities

People

  • Dan Boneh

Organizations

  • Office of Naval Research
  • Stanford University
  • United States Navy

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Computer science
  • Mathematics

Readers

  • Cybersecurity.
  • Distributed Systems and Data Platform Development
  • Software Engineering.

Technology Areas

  • Cyber
  • Cyber - Cryptography