Description
Attribute-based Encryption (ABE) is an advanced asymmetric encryption scheme that provides
fine-grained access control over encrypted data by evaluating access policies on attribute
sets. Many approaches to ABE are built on hardness assumptions for problems that are difficult
to solve on modern computers, but for which efficient quantum computers would take quantum
polynomial time. Consequently, research has led to numerous ABE constructions based on problems
thought to be quantum-safe, many of which are based on lattice problems, such as Learning With
Errors (LWE) and Ring Learning With Errors (R-LWE). In this work, a selection of recent lattice-based
post-quantum ABE constructions are evaluated and compared according to their types of construction,
underlying hardness assumptions, expressiveness of access policies, and security models. Furthermore,
other ABE schemes with additional features in the domains of revocability, searchability and support
for multi-authority are compared by their respective relevant properties. A novel approach to directly
construct Ciphertext-Policy ABE (CP-ABE) schemes without the need of transformation from a Key-Policy
ABE (KP-ABE) scheme is discussed, as well as a scheme that is adaptively secure in the standard model
and described as using the lattice version of the dual-system method from pairing-based cryptography.
Current research progress in the field of ABE is compared and catalogued in tables for high-level
systematization.
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Thesis topic in co-operation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied and Integrated Security AISEC, Garching