Indistinguishability Obfuscation
From MgmtWiki
Full Title or Meme
A process that enables a computer program to hide not just collections of data but the inner workings of itself.
Contexts
- One long term goal is to create a computer program with a built-in encryption password that cannot be extracted by an attacker.
- First described in 2018 a program at UCLA[1] developed a technique considered prior to that to be impossible. An algorithm that could serve as the basis for nearly any imaginable type of cryptographic protocol.
Problems
- The ability of a computer program to hide its internal operations for view has be a goal, and a claim of many obfuscation methods for decades.
- As soon as an obfuscation program was release, it as broken. Often within days of its release.
- In 2001 the strongest form of obfuscation was proven to be impossible.[2]
Solution
The proposed solution[3] works only if some of the current assumptions continue to hold. The most serious challenge to these assumptions is from the Quantum Computing Threat for which mitigations are pending.
References
- ↑ Erica Klarreich, Computer Scientists Achieve the ‘Crown Jewel’ of Cryptography. Wired (2020-11-15) https://www.wired.com/story/computer-scientists-achieve-the-crown-jewel-of-cryptography/
- ↑ Boaz Barak +6, On the (Im)possibility of Obfuscating Programs IACR (2001-08-02) https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/3-540-44647-8_1
- ↑ Aayush Jain* Huijia Lin† Amit Sahai The Indistinguishability Obfuscation from Well-Founded Assumptions {2020-11-12) IACR https://eprint.iacr.org/2020/1003.pdf
