Description
Algorithms for secure encryption in a post-quantum world are currently receiving a lot of attention in the research community, including several larger projects and a standardization effort from {NIST}. One of the most promising algorithms is the code-based scheme called QC-MDPC, which has excellent performance and a small public key size.<br/> In this work we present a very efficient key recovery attack on the QC-MDPC scheme using the fact that decryption uses an iterative decoding step and this can fail with some small probability. We identify a dependence between the secret key and the failure in decoding. This can be used to build what we refer to as a distance spectrum for the secret key, which is the set of all distances between any two ones in the secret key. In a reconstruction step we then determine the secret key from the distance spectrum. The attack has been implemented and tested on a proposed instance of QC-MDPC for 80 bit security. It successfully recovers the secret key in minutes. A slightly modified version of the attack can be applied on proposed versions of the QC-MDPC scheme that provides IND-CCA security. The attack is a bit more complex in this case, but still very much below the security level. The reason why we can break schemes with proved CCA security is that the model for these proofs typically does not include the decoding error possibility.
Next sessions
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Adelic reduction of module lattices
Speaker : Henry Bambury - DGA-MI et Inria Rennes
We give a strict generalisation of the LLL algorithm over number fields, based on the reduction theory of $GL(n)$ over the adele ring of a number field. Our algorithm is free of heuristics, with rigorous bounds on output quality and complexity. -- based on joint work with Seungki Kim, Changmin Lee and Phong Nguyen ---
Cryptography
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European Cyber Week: atelier cryptographie post-quantique
Dans la continuité des éditions 2021, 2022 et 2024, la DGA — en partenariat avec CREACH LABS et avec le soutien de l'ANSSI, de l'IRISA, de l'IRMAR et du Pôle d'Excellence Cyber — organise la 4e édition de l'atelier consacré à la cryptographie post-quantique dans le cadre de l'European Cyber Week 2026. Attention, il faut s'inscrire (gratuitement) au préalable — s'inscrire à la conférence Les[…] -
Post-quantum day of the cryptography seminar
A scientific day devoted to post-quantum cryptography, held in the wake of the European Cyber Week, with talks more technical than those presented at the ECW.