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History of Elliptic Curve Cryptography

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51 views3 pages

History of Elliptic Curve Cryptography

Uploaded by

Ansh Singh
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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ECC, as the name implies, is an asymmetric encryption algorithm that employs the algebraic

architecture of elliptic curves with finite fields.

 Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) is an encryption technology comparable to RSA


that enables public-key encryption.
 While RSA’s security is dependent on huge prime numbers, ECC leverages the
mathematical theory of elliptic curves to achieve the same level of security with
considerably smaller keys.
 Victor Miller and Neal Koblitz separately proposed elliptic curve ciphers in the mid-
1980s. On a high level, they are analogs of actual public cryptosystems in which
modular arithmetic is substituted by elliptic curve operations.

History of Elliptic Curve Cryptography

 Neal Koblitz and Victor S. Miller independently proposed the use of elliptic curves in
encryption in 1985.
 Elliptic curve cryptography algorithms entered wide use from 2004 to 2005.
 In the mid-1980s, researchers found that examining elliptic curves could lead to the
discovery of new sources of difficult problems. Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC)
introduced a new degree of security to public key cryptosystems, that provide combined
encryption and digital signature services.
 The security of elliptic curve cryptosystems, like that of all public-key cryptosystems,
is based on tough mathematical issues at the core. Given two elliptic curve points G
and Y, where Y = kG.
 The term “elliptic curve” is derived from the ellipse. Elliptic curves were discovered in
the form of the Diophantine equation for c, after the 17th century. Furthermore, while
calculating the surface of the ellipse is simple, calculating the circumference of the
ellipse is difficult. The equation can be simplified to an integral:

Components of Elliptic Curve Cryptography

Below are the components of elliptic curve cryptography:

1. ECC keys:

 Private key: ECC cryptography’s private key creation is as simple as safely producing
a random integer in a specific range, making it highly quick. Any integer in the field
represents a valid ECC private key.
 Public keys: Public keys within ECC are EC points, which are pairs of integer
coordinates x, and y that lie on a curve. Because of its unique features, EC points can
be compressed to a single coordinate + 1 bit (odd or even). As a result, the compressed
public key corresponds to a 256-bit ECC.

2. Generator Point:

 ECC cryptosystems establish a special pre-defined EC point called generator point G


(base point) for elliptic curves over finite fields, which can generate any other position
in its subgroup over the elliptic curve by multiplying G from some integer in the range
[0…r].
 The number r is referred to as the “ordering” of the cyclic subgroup.
 Elliptic curve subgroups typically contain numerous generator points, but cryptologists
carefully select one of them to generate the entire group (or subgroup), and is excellent
for performance optimizations in calculations. This is the “G” generator.
Elliptic Curve Cryptography Algorithms

Based on the arithmetic of elliptic curves over finite fields, Elliptic-Curve Cryptography (ECC)
provides numerous sets of algorithms:

Digital signature algorithms:

 Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm. (ECDSA): ECDSA, or Elliptic Curve


Digital Signature Algorithm, is a more highly complicated public-key cryptography
encryption algorithm. Elliptic curve cryptography is a type of public key cryptography
that uses the algebraic structure of elliptic curves with finite fields as its foundation.
Elliptic curve cryptography is primarily used to generate pseudo-random numbers,
digital signatures, and other data.
 Edwards-curve Digital Signature Algorithm (EdDSA): The Edwards-curve Digital
Signature Algorithm (EdDSA) was proposed as a replacement for the Elliptic Curve
Digital Signature Algorithm for performing fast public-key digital signatures
(ECDSA). Its primary benefits for embedded devices are higher performance and
simple, secure implementations. During a signature, no branch or lookup operations
based on the secret values are performed. Many side-channel attacks are foiled by these
properties.

Encryption algorithms:

 Elliptic Curve Integrated Encryption Scheme (ECIES): ECIES is a public-key


authenticated encryption scheme that uses a KDF (key-derivation function) to generate
a separate Medium Access Control key and symmetric encryption key from the ECDH
shared secret. Because the ECIES algorithm incorporates a symmetric cipher, it can
encrypt any amount of data. In practice, ECIES is used by standards such as Intelligent
Transportation Systems.
 EC-based ElGamal Elliptic Curve Cryptography: ElGamal Elliptic Curve
Cryptography is the public key cryptography equivalent of ElGamal encryption
schemes that employ the Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem. ElGamal is an
asymmetric encryption algorithm that is used to send messages securely over long
distances. Unfortunately, if the encrypted message is short enough, the algorithm is
vulnerable to a Meet in the Middle attack.

Key Agreement algorithm:

 Elliptic-curve Diffie–Hellman (ECDH): Elliptic-curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) is a


key agreement protocol that enables two parties to establish a shared secret over an
insecure channel, each with an elliptic-curve public-private key pair. This shared secret
can be used directly as a key or to generate another key. Following that, the key, or the
derived key, can be used to encrypt subsequent communications with a symmetric-key
cipher.
 Fully Hashed Menezes-Qu-Vanstone(FHMQV): Fully Hashed Menezes-Qu-
Vanstone is an authenticated key agreement protocol based on the Diffie-Hellman
scheme. MQV, like other authenticated Diffie-Hellman schemes, protects against an
active attacker. The protocol can be adapted to work in any finite group, most notably
elliptic curve groups, in which it is recognized as elliptic curve MQV (ECMQV).

Application of Elliptic Curve Cryptography

 Diffie-Hellman: The basic public-key cryptosystem suggested for secret key sharing
is the Diffie-Hellman protocol. If A (Alice) and B (Bob) initially agree on a given curve,
field size, and mathematical type. They then distribute the secret key in the following
manner. We can see that all we need to build the Diffie-Hellman protocol is scalar
multiplication.
 Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA): ECC is one of the most
widely utilized digital signature implementation approaches in cryptocurrencies. In
order to sign transactions, both Bitcoin and Ethereum use the field inverse
multiplication, but also arithmetic multiplication, inverse function, and modular
operation.
 Online application: Moreover, ECC is not limited to cryptocurrencies. It is an
encryption standard that will be utilized by most online apps in the future due to its
reduced key size and efficiency. Most commonly used in cryptocurrencies such as
Bitcoin and Ethereum, along with single-way encryption of emails, data, and software.
 Blockchain application: The cryptocurrency Bitcoin employs elliptic curve
cryptography. Ethereum 2.0 makes heavy use of elliptic curve pairs with BLS
signatures, as stated in the IETF proposed BLS specification, to cryptographically
ensure that a specific Eth2 validator has really verified a specific transaction.

ECC vs RSA

Below is the difference between ECC and RSA:

Parameters ECC RSA


ECC is a cryptography technique that RSA cryptography algorithm is
Working
works just on a mathematical model of primarily based on the prime
algorithm
elliptic curves. factorization approach.
Bandwidth ECC gives significant bandwidth RSA provides much lesser
savings savings over RSA. bandwidth saving than ECC.
Encryption The encryption process takes less time The encryption process takes more
process in ECC. time in RSA.
Decryption
The decryption process takes more time. Decryption is faster than ECC.
process
ECC is much safer than RSA and is RSA is heading toward the end of its
Security
currently in the process of adapting. tenure.

ECC vs RSA: Key Length Comparison:

Security(in Bits) RSA key length required ECC key length required
80 1024 160-223
112 2048 224-255

128 3072 256-383

192 7680 384-511


256 15360 512+

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