Pamela Morris‐Perez, Rachel M. Abenavoli, Adam Benzekri, Sarah Rosenbach‐Jordan · 5 authors
For much of the past decade, suicide has been the second leading cause of death for adolescents in the United States, and suicide rates among adolescents have been rising for the last 15 years. Suicidal thoughts and behaviors among adolescents were common before COVID-19 and have become an increasing public health priority in the pandemic′s wake. In this Social Policy Report, we review evidence for suicide prevention strategies designed to address these rising trends. We make recommendations for federal, state, and local policymakers and practitioners; program developers in organizations that design and implement programming for youth; and academic and nonacademic researchers. Where research evidence is strong, we suggest legislation, funding, and implementation. In areas where gaps in evidence exist, we recommend program development and research. Our recommendations follow the order in a taxonomy adapted from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, beginning with strategies that change the structural conditions in which adolescents live and concluding with strategies that support adolescents following a suicide (i.e., postvention). We find strong evidence for, and recommend policy implementation of: restricting access to lethal means; LGBTQ+ affirming policies; screening for suicide risk in medical settings; and community-wide investments via the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act. In schools, we find benefits of, and recommend funding and implementation of, youth-focused programs. Even so, gaps exist: (a) research on economic policies for adolescents is nonexistent; (b) while mental health care access is a barrier, we do not know how to reduce youth suicide rates via changing care access; (c) data on crisis lines are encouraging but descriptive; and (d) school personnel training increases knowledge and confidence but not adolescent help-seeking. Finally, guidelines for response following a suicide loss focus on immediate support and are based on limited research; this is an area for program development and research. We recommend state-level policymakers restrict access to firearms via regulations and safe storage; public health officials implement firearm safe storage programs and build barriers on buildings/bridges; public health officials and health care providers distribute lockboxes for medications; and the Consumer Product Safety commission enact regulations that restrict the size of bottles for lethal over-the-counter medications. We recommend that state-level policymakers protect and implement strategies that treat LGBTQ+ youth equally and affirm LGBTQ+ identities (e.g., maintain same-sex marriage laws, protect affirming school environments/safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth); state policymakers and school district/school leaders fight anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, policy, and practices that limit access to medical care, sports, representation in classroom conversations; and school leaders support LGBTQ+ affirming spaces (e.g., GSAs). We recommend that The Joint Commission1 update its recommendations to include universal suicide risk screening for adolescents; the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at the Department of Health and Human Services require screening for suicide risk in pediatrics and emergency departments as part of routine care; and health care providers implement such screening practices. We recommend that the federal government increase funding for the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Grants that provide funding to communities for suicide prevention activities in youth-serving organizations and for the Suicide Training and Awareness Nationally Delivered for Universal Prevention (STANDUP) Act of 2021 that offers suicide prevention funding to schools to implement effective programs. We also recommend that public health and school district leaders apply for such funding and implement evidence-based practices. We recommend that state and local policymakers fund and monitor school district- and school-level implementation of state-wide suicide prevention laws and that school district/school leaders ensure implementation of such laws. We recommend that the state and federal Departments of Education fund and encourage implementation of evidence-based school youth-focused programs,2 in tandem with school staff training programs, and that school district/school leaders implement such programs. We recommend that the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics create national standards for suicide death classifications and require workforce training to reduce variation across place and persons that can lead to underreporting for minoritized racial/ethnic and LGBTQ+ groups. We also recommend that public health officials ensure that coroners and medical examiners receive such training. Engage peer leaders to spread messages of help-seeking as normative in schools, in youth-serving organizations, and on social media. Develop programs that address unique needs of groups at high risk (e.g., Indigenous, multi-racial, LGBTQ+, and rural adolescents). Also develop programs for racial/ethnic minority youth for whom there is limited Develop programs that support adolescent needs for and for the youth in the design of programs, youth and youth to Develop strategies that support the of adolescents have the loss of a peer to and research on the of economic policies to reduce on adolescent suicide death and research on policies and practices (i.e., and for minoritized racial/ethnic groups Indigenous, and adolescents). and on the of increasing mental health care on adolescent suicide on the of crisis across in implementation across and to recommendations for practices and gaps in program design and the of effective peer programs on minoritized racial/ethnic and LGBTQ+ adolescents and in a of school and to data for of suicide and thoughts and and that of and policy in Our on the following youth the of and thoughts suicide and thoughts of to and suicide do not include is an in which with an to but not is the for suicide research. The suicide is with in part of its as a and We the following for of thoughts and behaviors among which to the of suicide as a suicide that as a of the suicide social that an for of risk among in social groups. 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We strategies in the order in the beginning with strategies at changing the structural conditions in which adolescents live and concluding with strategies at suicide and adolescents following a suicide (i.e., postvention). We the taxonomy with a on data suicide but this has not been for for is and and research on the of economic policies to reduce on adolescent suicide death and access to lethal access to lethal is effective in suicide with benefits of firearm regulations and of barriers and in for suicide the Act of to in suicide rates in the research in the the of the size of and access to firearms via regulations and safe health firearm safe storage programs and build barriers on health officials and health care lockboxes for medications. Consumer Product Safety regulations that restrict size of bottles for lethal over-the-counter medications. policies and of same-sex marriage laws suicide among high school for and practices affirming LGBTQ+ youth on policies for minoritized racial/ethnic groups is and and implement strategies that treat LGBTQ+ youth equally and affirm LGBTQ+ identities (e.g., maintain same-sex marriage laws, protect affirming school for LGBTQ+ policymakers and school district/school anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, policy, and practices that limit access to medical care, sports, representation in classroom LGBTQ+ affirming spaces (e.g., GSAs). research on (i.e., for minoritized racial/ethnic groups. mental health and increase access to mental health care and access to health laws increase mental health care and for access is of there is limited research on the of access on suicide rates of crisis lines to are but lines in are following but there is evidence of the of crisis lines on suicide training and to for is for adolescents). and on the of increasing mental health care on adolescent suicide on the of crisis across national implementation of crisis in implementation across and to recommendations for practices and gaps in program design and adolescents at risk in suicide prevention in schools and youth-serving organizations peer and change universal screening is in medical adolescents that not lead to and The Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Act of for a of youth suicide prevention across in communities and has been to The Act of 2021 offers suicide prevention funding to schools to implement effective programs. in school laws and there is variation in implementation at the district Training school personnel to and adolescents in schools increases knowledge and confidence but not adolescent help-seeking. Training in schools is at and programs peer programs have not been for on minoritized LGBTQ+ racial/ethnic groups. focus on the and youth to care, with to adolescent needs for and a programs youth to in the design of program and The Joint recommendations to include universal suicide risk screening for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at the Department of Health and Human screening for suicide risk in pediatrics and emergency departments as part of routine such screening practices. and funding for the Garrett Lee Smith Memorial Grants and the Suicide Training and Awareness Nationally Delivered for Universal Prevention (STANDUP) Act of health and school district for such funding and implement evidence-based practices. and and local and monitor school district- and school-level implementation of state-wide suicide prevention laws. district/school implementation of such laws. and and federal departments of and encourage implementation of evidence-based school youth-focused programs, in tandem with school staff training programs. district/school such programs. Engage peer leaders to spread messages of help-seeking as normative in schools, in youth-serving organizations, and on social media. Develop programs that address unique needs of groups at high risk (e.g., Indigenous, multi-racial, LGBTQ+, and rural adolescents). Also develop programs for racial/ethnic minority youth for whom there is limited Develop programs that support adolescent needs for and youth in the design of programs, youth and youth to the of effective peer programs on minoritized racial/ethnic and LGBTQ+ adolescents and in a of school and and suicide and for prevention a suicide to a suicide death is with and national guidelines reduce such research to the benefits of guidelines a suicide guidelines are on crisis response support and are based on limited research. 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In an era characterized by the rapid expansion of cloud storage services and the ubiquitous digitization of data, preserving the security and privacy of information has become paramount. This research paper explores a pioneering approach to fortify data security in cloud storage through the application of zero-knowledge proof protocols.The growing reliance on cloud storage has exposed organizations and individuals to various security threats, including data breaches, unauthorized access, and privacy concerns. Zero-knowledge proof protocols, such as zk-SNARKs and zk-STARKs, offer a unique solution to address these challenges. They allow for the verification of data integrity and authenticity without exposing the actual data, thereby ensuring data privacy in the cloud.This paper comprehensively delves into the principles and mechanisms of zero-knowledge proofs and their practical application in cloud security. It discusses the benefits of using these protocols, including enhanced data security, reduced risk of data breaches, and compliance with data protection regulations.The research also considers the challenges and limitations associated with the integration of zero-knowledge proof protocols in existing cloud infrastructures, addressing computational overhead and user adoption hurdles. Case studies and practical implementations from various organizations highlight the real-world impact and benefits of these protocols.Ethical and regulatory considerations surrounding enhanced data security and privacy are examined, emphasizing the alignment of zero-knowledge proof protocols with data protection regulations and compliance requirements.As data security continues to be a critical concern for individuals and organizations in the digital age, the findings of this research provide valuable insights into an evolving landscape where technology and privacy intersect. It encourages further research, exploration, and adoption of zero-knowledge proof protocols to ensure the integrity and confidentiality of data in cloud storage, safeguarding the digital assets of users and enterprises alike.
In the rapidly evolving domain of distributed ledger technology, scalability and interoperability have become paramount challenges for both academic and industry sectors. In this paper, we introduce a comprehensive formal model to address atomic composability across multiple rollups on Ethereum. The proposed model incorporates mechanisms like buffering, dependency management, concurrency control, and the groundbreaking zero-knowledge proofs. Moreover, we evaluate its practical repercussions, strengths, and weaknesses, ensuring resilience against manipulative or erroneous actions. The application of the proposed model to shared sequencers and other existing solutions accentuates its versatility and universality.
In today's world, secure and efficient biometric authentication is of keen importance. Traditional authentication methods are no longer considered reliable due to their susceptibility to cyber-attacks. Biometric authentication, particularly fingerprint authentication, has emerged as a promising alternative, but it raises concerns about the storage and use of biometric data, as well as centralized storage, which could make it vulnerable to cyber-attacks. In this paper, a novel blockchain-based fingerprint authentication system is proposed that integrates zk-SNARKs, which are zero-knowledge proofs that enable secure and efficient authentication without revealing sensitive biometric information. A KNN-based approach on the FVC2002, FVC2004 and FVC2006 datasets is used to generate a cancelable template for secure, faster, and robust biometric registration and authentication which is stored using the Interplanetary File System. The proposed approach provides an average accuracy of 99.01%, 98.97% and 98.52% over the FVC2002, FVC2004 and FVC2006 datasets respectively for fingerprint authentication. Incorporation of zk-SNARK facilitates smaller proof size. Overall, the proposed method has the potential to provide a secure and efficient solution for blockchain-based identity management.
assword has been the major vulnerability and challenge in cloud computing environment due to adversarial threat sources. Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) becomes the excellent optional strategy and current anticipation for Cloud Data security and assurance as it gives the server zero knowledge of passwords. However, the VERIFIER, despite having no knowledge of the password must verify that the password entered by the PROVER is correct. A major challenge that occurs is when the user disremembers the password, the cloud environment becomes inaccessible and the cloud service provider has no any replica of the password as a backup. Eavesdropping/snooping is a major threat which provides full access to the cloud environment. Adding Time-based One-time Password (TOTP) will be an elucidation to password delinquency as it expires after a certain splits of seconds or minutes which would render the password unserviceable to the snooped. This research examined cloud services in relation to the security challenges faced by organizations and proposed the hybridization of the Zero-Knowledge Proof and Time- Based One-Time Password algorithms for a better security of the cloud environment.
<title>Abstract</title> Blockchain technology has gained significant attention in recent years due to its decentralized and secure nature. Ethereum a popular blockchain platform supports the execution of smart contracts and enables the storage of data on the blockchain. However Ethereum's public nature may not be suitable for scenarios where sensitive or private data needs to be stored and accessed securely. In this paper we present GANACHE an efficient private Ethereum blockchain tool that addresses the confidentiality and security concerns associated with data storage. GANACHE leverages various cryptographic techniques such as encryption and zero-knowledge proofs to ensure the privacy of stored data while maintaining the benefits of blockchain technology.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Cryptography and Data Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Identity theft is one of the fastest-growing forms of cybercrime, driven by large-scale data breaches, phishing, and increasingly sophisticated impersonation attacks. Traditional identity verification methods such as passwords, PINs, and physical documents have proven inadequate in ensuring security at scale. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative enabler of next-generation identity verification by leveraging multimodal techniques, including facial recognition, voice biometrics, and document authentication. The paper discusses how AI- based verification systems can be used to prevent identity theft and how the system is used in real-time adaptive, and frictionless authentication over high-stakes areas, including banking, healthcare, e-commerce, and government services. We introduce a multi-layered verification system that combines the facial, voice and document verification modules in a single decision layer to minimize the false positives and negative but enhances the system resistance to spoofing and adversarial attacks. Practical implementations, advantages and governance are described using case studies of financial institutions, e-commerce websites and national identity programs. Nevertheless, there are still obstacles, such as demographic bias, privacy risks, adversarial vulnerability and lack of a coherent regulatory framework that makes it difficult to achieve mass adoption. In the future, we will address future directions in the area of decentralized identity, federated learning, zero-knowledge proofs, explainable AI, and international regulatory alignment. These innovations will work towards building trust, fairness and interoperability in digital identity ecosystems. Finally, this paper shows that AI-based identity verification is not merely a technological breakthrough but one of the essential needs to protect individuals, organizations, and governments against identity theft during the digital age.
Verifiable Credential (VC) is a new standard proposed by the W3C association to facilitate the expression and verification of third-party-verified credentials on the Internet, such as passports or diplomas. However, the current VC data model lacks an explicit revocation design that guarantees the secure operations of the system, which limits its application. In this paper, we specify the requirements for a tamper-evident and privacy-preserving revocation mechanism, based on which we compare existing solutions and propose our revocation mechanism that satisfies all the requirements. Our design combines a cryptographic accumulator and a role-based blockchain. With zero-knowledge proof, the verifier can operate off-chain computation of the revocation status while ensuring the correctness of revocation information published on the blockchain. Our analysis shows that the proposed revocation mechanism can prevent fraud using forged and revoked credentials and relieve privacy concerns caused by the correlation of digital data. Our proof-of-concept implementation demonstrates that our revocation mechanism adds only 42.86 ms overhead in the presentation and 31.36 ms overhead in the verification of verifiable credentials. We also provide scalability analysis, which illustrates that the throughput of our blockchain can meet real-world needs.
Redactable Signature Schemes and Zero-Knowledge Proofs are two radically different approaches to enable privacy. This paper analyses their merits and drawbacks when applied to decentralized identity system. Redactable Signatures, though competitively quick and compact, are not as expressive as zero-knowledge proofs and do not provide the same level of privacy. On the other hand, zero-knowledge proofs can be much faster but some protocols require a trusted set-up. We conclude that given the benefits and drawbacks, redactable signatures are more appropriate at an earlier stage and zero-knowledge proofs are more appropriate at a later stage for decentralized identity systems
Signatures post-quantiques à partir de techniques de calcul multipartite Le développement actuel des ordinateurs quantiques pousse la communauté cryptographique à mettre au point de nouveaux cryptosystèmes dont la sécurité se fonde sur la difficulté à résoudre des problèmes cryptographiques résistant au calcul quantique. Dans le cadre de cette thèse, nous nous sommes focalisés sur la conception de schémas de signatures électroniques construits à partir de preuves à divulgation nulle de connaissance (zero-knowledge proofs of knowledge). Plus précisément, nous nous sommes intéressés au paradigme “MPC-in-the-Head” (littéralement, “calcul-multipartite-dans-la-tête”) qui fournit une méthode générique de construire de telles preuves en utilisant des techniques de calcul multipartite sécurisé. Nous proposons plusieurs nouveaux schémas de signatures utilisant le paradigme “MPC-in-the-Head”. La plupart d’entre eux sont compétitifs avec les schémas existants dans l’état de l’art post-quantique. Ils produisent des signatures ayant des tailles entre 5 et 20 kylo-octets (pour un niveau de sécurité de 128 bits) et possèdent de très petites clés (de moins de 200 octets). Les problèmes difficiles sur lesquels la sécurité de ces schémas se fonde sont très variés. Certains schémas s’appuient sur des hypothèses de sécurité issues de la théorie des codes correcteurs d’erreurs, telle que celle sur la difficulté à résoudre le problème de décodage par syndrome pour des codes linéaires aléatoires. Les autres schémas s’appuient sur la difficultés à résoudre un système d’équations quadratiques, le problème de la somme de sous-ensembles ou le problème MinRank. Nous avons également mis au point deux nouvelles techniques de MPC-in-the-Head. La première vise à gérer efficacement les situations où le secret est de petite taille avec un grand modulus. La seconde consiste en une nouvelle méthode pour transformer un protocole de calcul multipartite en preuve de divulgation nulle de connaissance. Cette nouvelle transformation offre des nouveaux compromis entre coût de communication et temps de calcul. En particulier, elle permet de produire des algorithmes de vérification très rapides. Plusieurs soumissions à l’appel du NIST pour des schémas de signatures post-quantiques supplémentaires s'appuient (parfois partiellement) sur des idées développées dans le cadre de cette thèse.
As electric vehicles become more popular, battery swap stations are gaining attention as a new type of charging facility. However, the charging process for electric vehicles involves privacy information such as user location and charging mode, which can be easily stolen or leaked, posing security risks and personal privacy concerns for users. Therefore, protecting the privacy of electric vehicle battery swap station users has become an important issue. This paper aims to study a privacy protection system for electric vehicle battery swap stations using blockchain technology. First, the basic principles and application scenarios of blockchain technology are introduced. Second, potential privacy leaks in electric vehicle battery swap stations are analysed, and a privacy protection scheme based on blockchain is proposed, including anonymous identity authentication, zero-knowledge proof, and encrypted communication. Third, a blockchain-based privacy protection system for electric vehicle battery swap stations is designed and implemented, and its performance is experimentally evaluated and compared with traditional privacy protection schemes in terms of security and efficiency. This paper demonstrates that the blockchain-based privacy protection scheme for electric vehicle battery swap stations possesses high levels of security and reliability, effectively safeguarding users' privacy information. Furthermore, this scheme exhibits promising application prospects and potential for widespread adoption. With the continuous development and utilization of blockchain technology, the privacy protection scheme for electric vehicle battery swap stations using blockchain is expected to provide users with more secure, reliable, and convenient charging services.
Over recent decades, machine learning has significantly advanced network communication, enabling improved decision-making, user behavior analysis, and fault detection. Simultaneously, the growth of communication networks has facilitated the efficient collection of large-scale training data. Traditional centralized machine learning, however, requires collecting data from users, raising significant concerns about privacy and security. Decentralized approaches, where participants exchange computation results instead of raw private data, mitigate these risks but introduce challenges related to trust and verifiability. A critical issue arises: How can one ensure the integrity and validity of computation results shared by other participants? Existing survey articles predominantly address security and privacy concerns in decentralized machine learning, whereas this survey uniquely highlights the emerging issue of verifiability. Recognizing the critical role of zero-knowledge proofs in ensuring verifiability, we present a comprehensive review of Zero-Knowledge Proof-based Verifiable Machine Learning (ZKP-VML). To clarify the research problem, we present a definition of ZKP-VML consisting of four algorithms and several key security properties. In addition, we provide an overview of the current research landscape by systematically organizing the research timeline and categorizing existing schemes based on their security properties. Furthermore, through an in-depth analysis of each existing scheme, we summarize their technical contributions and optimization strategies, aiming to uncover common design principles underlying ZKP-VML schemes. Building on the reviews and analysis presented, we identify current research challenges and suggest future research directions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive survey to date on verifiable decentralized machine learning and ZKP-VML.
Anonymity forms the basis of decentralized ecosystems, leading to an increase in criminal activities such as money laundering and illegal currency trading. Especially in blockchain-based metaverse services, activities such as preventing sexual crimes and verifying the identity of adults are becoming essential. Therefore, avatar authentication and the KYC (Know Your Customer) process have become crucial elements. This paper proposes a mechanism to achieve the KYC process by verifying user identity using smart contracts. Users obtain an SBT (Soul Bound Token) from the metaverse service provider through the DID (Decentralized Identity) credential issued during the KYC process. The identity verification of avatars occurs within smart contracts, ensuring user privacy and protection through ZKP (Zero Knowledge Proof). Tools for generating ZKP are also provided, enabling users, even those who are unfamiliar with ZKP, to use them conveniently. Additionally, an integrated wallet is offered to seamlessly manage DID credentials and SBTs. Furthermore, in case of avatar identity issues, users can request an audit by the issuer through the associated DID tokens.
Open access
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Randomness plays a pivotal role in modern online gaming, but disputes have arisen over the accuracy of stated winning chances, resulting in legal issues and financial setbacks for gaming companies. Fortunately, blockchain-based games offer a solution to the transparency and fairness issue regarding randomness. Furthermore, emerging blockchain technology like Sui Network enhances the efficiency of smart contracts by eliminating traditional web3 barriers, such as inefficiencies and expensive transaction fees. This unlocks the potential for extensive decentralized gaming applications. This paper aims to provide insights into designing a fair, verifiable, and efficient smart contract game on blockchain by the example of building raffles on the Sui Network. We explore efficient methods for implementing randomness on smart contracts, including DRAND committee-based decentralized random beacons and single private-key-based verifiable random functions (VRF). Then, progress from basic to comprehensive smart contract design. We addressed limitations in developing blockchain games in general, such as data input and storage space constraints. We propose corresponding solutions, encompassing the utilization of Object Tables, Delegate Object Creation, and Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP) to optimize storage and input efficiency. After testing our designs, we found that the transaction fees for DRAND beacons and private-key-based VRFs are similar. Moreover, Object Tables incur higher overall transaction fees, while the ZKP setup fee is cheap but becomes very expensive during the verification process. Moreover, we identified suitable designs for different application scenarios by comparing the pros and cons of different smart contract implementations. Our findings provide valuable guidance for future researchers and developers in building random, fair, and verifiable games with smart contracts.
NFT marketplaces have witnessed exponential growth. The unique attributes of NFTs, encapsulated by the acronym CRAVED (concealable, removable, available, valuable, enjoyable, disposable), make them susceptible to multifaceted thefts. In response, we introduce "SafeNFT Mart," an NFT marketplace architecture devised to thwart counterfeiting and uphold both asset and ownership integrity. We leverage Zero Knowledge Proofs (ZKPs) for ownership verification and integrate a stringent punishment protocol to deter illicit activities. Our design draws from the design science research (DSR) approach. Expert interviews were conducted to fortify our findings, focusing on relevance, adaptability, and technological viability in tandem with real-world and strategic implications. An initial analytical model is provided to gauge the efficacy of our punitive mechanism. This research culminates with future work, outlining the further development and refinement of the proposed marketplace solution.
Open access
Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) and Hardware Security
A non-interactive ZK (NIZK) proof enables verification of NP statements without revealing secrets about them. However, an adversary that obtains a NIZK proof may be able to clone this proof and distribute arbitrarily many copies of it to various entities: this is inevitable for any proof that takes the form of a classical string. In this paper, we ask whether it is possible to rely on quantum information in order to build NIZK proof systems that are impossible to clone. We define and construct unclonable non-interactive zero-knowledge arguments (of knowledge) for NP, addressing a question first posed by Aaronson (CCC 2009). Besides satisfying the zero-knowledge and argument of knowledge properties, these proofs additionally satisfy unclonability. Very roughly, this ensures that no adversary can split an honestly generated proof of membership of an instance $x$ in an NP language $\mathcal{L}$ and distribute copies to multiple entities that all obtain accepting proofs of membership of $x$ in $\mathcal{L}$. Our result has applications to unclonable signatures of knowledge, which we define and construct in this work; these non-interactively prevent replay attacks.
Open access
3 source records
Cryptography and Data Security
Advanced Steganography and Watermarking Techniques
Federated Learning (FL) systems are susceptible to adversarial attacks, such as model poisoning attacks and backdoor attacks. Existing defense mechanisms face critical limitations in deployments, such as relying on impractical assumptions (e.g., adversaries acknowledging the presence of attacks before attacking) or undermining accuracy in model training, even in benign scenarios. To address these challenges, we propose CustodianFL, a two-staged anomaly detection method specifically designed for FL deployments. In the first stage, it flags suspicious client activities. In the second stage that is activated only when needed, it further examines these candidates using Three-Sigma Rule to identify and exclude truly malicious local models from FL training. To ensure integrity and transparency within the FL system, CustodianFL integrates zero-knowledge proofs, enabling clients to cryptographically verify the server's detection process without relying on the server's goodwill. CustodianFL operates without unrealistic assumptions and avoids interfering with FL training in attack-free scenarios. It bridges the gap between theoretical advances in FL security and the practical demands of real FL systems. Experimental results demonstrate that CustodianFL consistently delivers performance comparable to benign cases, highlighting its effectiveness in identifying and eliminating malicious models with high accuracy.
Summary Secure two‐party computation allows a pair of parties to compute a function together while keeping their inputs private. Ultimately, each party receives only its own correct output. In this paper, a post‐quantum secure two‐party computation protocol is proposed that can be used to effectively block malicious parties. The protocol solves the problems of traditional protocols based on garbled circuits, which are vulnerable to quantum attacks, high communication costs and low computational efficiency. The input garbled keys of the circuit constructor is structured as a Learning with Error (LWE) equation, enabling the circuit constructor to employ a zero‐knowledge proof that demonstrates the uniformity of inputs across all circuits.In the key transfer phase, an LWE‐based batch single‐choice cut‐and‐choose oblivious transfer is proposed to avoid selective failure attacks. In addition, the protocol employs a penalty mechanism to detect if the circuit constructor has generated an incorrect circuit. We have compared the communication overhead of this protocol with three other secure two‐party computation protocols based on Cut‐and‐Choose technology. The analytical results show that this protocol has the best error probability and is resilient to quantum attacks under the malicious adversary model. In addition, with appropriate parameters, the protocol is able to reduce its communication bandwidth by an average of 40.41%.
Zhipeng Wang, Nanqing Dong, Jiahao Sun, William J. Knottenbelt · 5 authors
Federated learning (FL) is a machine learning paradigm, which enables multiple and decentralized clients to collaboratively train a model under the orchestration of a central aggregator. FL can be a scalable machine learning solution in big data scenarios. Traditional FL relies on the trust assumption of the central aggregator, which forms cohorts of clients honestly. However, a malicious aggregator, in reality, could abandon and replace the client's training models, or insert fake clients, to manipulate the final training results. In this work, we introduce zkFL, which leverages zero-knowledge proofs to tackle the issue of a malicious aggregator during the training model aggregation process. To guarantee the correct aggregation results, the aggregator provides a proof per round, demonstrating to the clients that the aggregator executes the intended behavior faithfully. To further reduce the verification cost of clients, we use blockchain to handle the proof in a zero-knowledge way, where miners (i.e., the participants validating and maintaining the blockchain data) can verify the proof without knowing the clients' local and aggregated models. The theoretical analysis and empirical results show that zkFL achieves better security and privacy than traditional FL, without modifying the underlying FL network structure or heavily compromising the training speed.
(English) One of the most common fears regarding electronic voting is that a voting device will disregard the voter's intent and cast a different vote instead. An undetectable attack like that on a large scale will allow the adversary to control the election result completely. Therefore, the cast-as-intended verification, which ensures that the ballot contains the voter's choice and not something else, is crucial. Another common fear when introducing electronic voting is coercion, which captures a variety of ways the coercer can use to prevent voters from expressing their will. Hence, coercion resistance is a valuable property of electronic voting as well. One particularly challenging task is to find a trade-off between ensuring a voter cannot be coerced and, at the same time, preventing a malicious voting device from cheating. This thesis explores this trade-off to find how we can provide coercion-resistant cast-as-intended verification. The contributions can be roughly divided into three parts: (1) study in the standard settings, (2) exploration of post-quantum cryptography, and (3) practical constructions and search for the limitations of both properties. In the first part, we give an extensive overview of the current state of the art in electronic voting literature regarding those properties. Then, we put forward two formal definitions for achieving coercion-resistant cast-as-intended verification in settings without pre-exchanged data. After that, we present two practical constructions and prove their security under the proposed definitions. We also show the efficiency of our proposals by providing proof of the concept implementations. In the second part, we switch to post-quantum settings and identify the usability issues rooted in the lattice-based math affecting both proposed solutions. To address those issues, we present a generic transformation that departs from an interactive zero-knowledge system (that might require multiple re-runs to complete the protocol) and obtains a 3-move zero-knowledge system (without re-runs). The transformation combines the well-known Fiat-Shamir technique with several initially exchanged messages. The resulting 3-move system enjoys honest-verifier zero-knowledge and can be easily turned into a fully deniable proof using standard methods. In the final part, we focus on the practical aspects of the coercion-resistant cast-as-intended verification. First, we present the case of a computationally limited voter, which we consider the most realistic. We show that even a computationally limited voter can enjoy coercion-resistant cast-as-intended verification, but a help of a simple aid device for nonce generation is required. Also, we demonstrate that our generic definition easily adapts to the constraints of the limited voter. After that, we present ongoing work that focuses on the cases of extreme coercion based on new and unexplored mechanisms such as delay encryption and blockchain. We show an advanced coercive attack on our first construction and describe an improvement to the second solution that reduces the number of interactions to an optimal three rounds. To summarize, we start by studying coercion-resistant cast-as-intended verification in standard settings, which results in formal definitions and two practical solutions. Then we move into the post-quantum world, where we learn that an extra step is needed to preserve the usability of our previously proposed constructions, which results in the generic transformation to avoid protocol re-runs. After that, we concentrate on a computationally limited voter, which leads to another simple solution and shows the adaptability of our original definitions. Finally, we explore the extreme coercion threats, which result in a new coercion attack on the first construction and upgrade of the second solution. (Català) Una de les preocupacions més comunes pel que fa al vot electrònic és que el dispositiu de votació no tingui en compte la intenció del votant i emeti un vot diferent. Un atac com aquest, si no fos detectable, a gran escala permetria a l'adversari controlar completament el resultat electoral. Per tant, és crucial permetre la propietat de verificació de la intenció del vot emès, la qual garanteix que la papereta contingui la intenció del votant i no una altra cosa. Una altra preocupació és la coacció, que engloba una varietat de maneres que el coaccionador pot utilitzar per obligar que els votants expressin la seva voluntat. La prevenció de la coacció també és una propietat valuosa del vot electrònic .Una tasca especialment difícil és trobar un compromís entre assegurar que un votant no pot ser coaccionat i, al mateix temps, evitar que un dispositiu de vot compromès faci trampes. Aquesta tesi analitza aquesta problemàtica; les contribucions de la tesi es poden dividir en tres parts: (1) estudi de les configuracions d’escenaris de vot estàndards, (2) exploració de la criptografia post-quàntica i (3) construccions pràctiques i cerca de les limitacions d'ambdues propietats. A la primera part, donem una visió general de l'estat actual de la literatura sobre el vot electrònic relacionada a aquestes propietats. A continuació, proposem dues definicions formals per assolir una verificació resistent a la coacció de la intenció del vot emès, en escenaris on no existeix un intercanvi de dades previ. Després, presentem dues propostes pràctiques i demostrem la seva seguretat sota les definicions proposades. També mostrem l'eficàcia de les nostres propostes implementant proves de concepte A la segona part, canviem a l’escenari post-quàntic amb matemàtiques basades en reticles i identifiquem els problemes d'usabilitat que afectarien ambdues solucions proposades en aquest nou escenari. Per solucionar-los, presentem una transformació genèrica que parteix d'un sistema interactiu de coneixement nul (que podria requerir múltiples re-execucions per completar el protocol) i que obté un sistema de coneixement nul de 3 moviments (sense re-execucions). La transformació combina la coneguda tècnica Fiat-Shamir amb diversos missatges intercanviats inicialment. A la part final, ens centrem en els aspectes pràctics de la verificació resistent a la coacció de la intenció del vot emès. En primer lloc, presentem el cas d'un votant limitat computacionalment, que considerem el més realista. Mostrem que fins i tot un votant amb limitacions computacionals pot gaudir d'una verificació resistent a la coacció de la intenció del vot emès, però requereix l'ajuda d'un dispositiu senzill per a la generació d’una prova. A més, demostrem que la nostra definició genèrica s'adapta fàcilment a les limitacions del votant. Després d'això, presentem un treball recent que se centra en els casos de coacció extrema basats en mecanismes nous i poc explorats com ara el xifrat amb retard i la cadena de blocs. Mostrem un atac coercitiu avançat a la nostra primera proposta genèrica i descrivim una millora de la segona que redueix el nombre d'interaccions a tres rondes òptimes. Com a resum, comencem estudiant la verificació resistent a la coacció de la intenció del vot emès en entorns criptogràfics estàndard, que dóna lloc a definicions formals i dues solucions pràctiques. Aleshores ens movem al món de la criptografia post-quàntica, on cal un pas addicional per preservar la usabilitat de les dues solucions proposades anteriorment: una transformació genèrica per evitar repeticions del protocol. Després d'això, ens concentrem en un votant computacionalment limitat, que condueix a una altra solució senzilla i mostra l'adaptabilitat de les nostres definicions originals. Finalment, explorem les amenaces de coacció extremes, que donen lloc a un nou atac de coerció a la primera solució i a una actualització de la segona solució.
Carsten Baum, Samuel Dittmer, Peter Schöll, Xiao Wang
Abstract A zero-knowledge proof is a cryptographic protocol where a prover can convince a verifier that a statement is true, without revealing any further information except for the truth of the statement. This article is a survey of recent developments in building practical zero-knowledge proof systems using vector oblivious linear evaluation (VOLE), a tool from secure two-party computation. In this work, we attempt to systematize the recent works on VOLE-based Zero-Knowledge proofs and make the state of the art accessible in one document.