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Abstract. We study the problem of broadcasting confidential information to a collection of n devices while providing the ability to revoke an arbitrary subset of those devices (and tolerating collusion among the revoked devices). In this paper, we restrict our attention to low-memory devices, that is, devices that can store at most O(log n) keys. We consider solutions for both zero-state and low-state cases, where such devices are organized in a tree structure T. We allow the group controller to encrypt broadcasts to any subtree of T,evenifthetreeisbasedonanmulti-way organizational chart or a severely unbalanced multicast tree. 1

Abstract—Contributory group key agreement protocols generate group keys based on contributions of all group members. Particularly appropriate for relatively small collaborative peer groups, these protocols are resilient to many types of attacks. Unlike most group key distribution protocols, contributory group key agreement protocols offer strong security properties such as key independence and perfect forward secrecy. This paper presents the first robust contributory key agreement protocol resilient to any sequence of group changes. The protocol, based on the Group Diffie-Hellman contributory key agreement, uses the services of a group communication system supporting Virtual Synchrony semantics. We prove that it provides both Virtual Synchrony and the security properties of Group Diffie-Hellman, in the presence of any sequence of (potentially cascading) node failures, recoveries, network partitions, and heals. We implemented a secure group communication service, Secure Spread, based on our robust key agreement protocol and Spread group communication system. To illustrate its practicality, we compare the costs of establishing a secure group with the proposed protocol and a protocol based on centralized group key management, adapted to offer equivalent security properties. Index Terms—Security and protection, fault tolerance, network protocols, distributed systems, group communication, contributory group key agreement, cryptographic protocols. æ 1

We consider the problem of efficient key management and user revocation in cryptographic file systems that allow shared access to files. A performance-efficient solution to user revocation in such systems is lazy revocation, a method that delays the re-encryption of a file until the next write to that file. We formalize the notion of key-updating schemes for lazy revocation, an abstraction to manage cryptographic keys in file systems with lazy revocation, and give a security definition for such schemes. We give two composition methods that combine two secure key-updating schemes into a new secure scheme that permits a larger number of user revocations. We prove the security of two slightly modified existing constructions and propose a novel binary tree construction that is also provable secure in our model.

Motivated by the study of algorithmic problems in the domain of information security, in this paper, we study the complexity of a new class of computations over a collection of values associated with a set of n elements. We introduce hierarchical data processing (HDP) problems which involve the computation of a collection of output values from an input set of n elements, where the entire computation is fully described by a directed acyclic graph (DAG). That is, individual computations are performed and intermediate values are processed according to the hierarchy induced by the DAG. We present an Ω(log n) lower bound on various computational cost measures for HDP problems. Essential in our study is an analogy that we draw between the complexities of any HDP problem of size n and searching by comparison in an order set of n elements, which shows an interesting connection between the two problems. In view of the logarithmic lower bounds, we also develop a new randomized DAG scheme for HDP problems that provides close to optimal performance and achieves cost measures with constant factors of the (logarithmic) leading asymptotic term that are close to optimal. Our lower bounds are general, apply to all HDP problems and, along with our new DAG construction, they provide an interesting –as well as useful in the area of algorithm analysis – theoretical framework. We apply our results to two information security problems, data authentication through cryptographic hashing and multicast key distribution using key-graphs and get a unified analysis and treatment for these problems. We show that both problems involve HDP and prove logarithmic lower bounds on their computational and communication costs. In particular, using our new DAG scheme, we present a new efficient authenticated dictionary with improved authentication overhead over previously known schemes. Moreover, through the relation between HDP and searching by comparison, we present a new skip-list version where the expected number of comparisons in a search is 1.25log 2 n + O(1). 1

This paper proposes several integrated security architecture designs for client-server group communication systems. In an integrated architecture, security services are implemented in servers, in contrast to a layered architecture where the same services are implemented in clients. We discuss the performance and accompanying trust issues of each proposed architecture and present experimental results that demonstrate the superior scalability of an integrated architecture.

Abstract — Group communication systems are high-availability distributed systems providing reliable and ordered message delivery as well as a membership service, to group-oriented applications. Many such systems are built using a distributed client-server architecture where a relatively small set of servers provide service to numerous clients. In this work, we show how group communication systems can be enhanced with security services without sacrificing robustness and performance. More specifically, we propose several integrated security architectures for distributed client-server group communication systems. In an integrated architecture, security services are implemented in servers, in contrast to a layered architecture where the same services are implemented in clients. We discuss performance and accompanying trust issues of each proposed architecture and present experimental results that demonstrate the superior scalability of an integrated architecture.

In this paper we analyze the requirements access control mechanisms must fulfill in the context of group communication and define a framework for supporting fine-grained access control in client-server group communication systems. Our framework combines rolebased access control mechanisms with environment parameters (time, IP address, etc.) to provide support for a wide range of applications with very different requirements. While the access control policy is defined by the application, its efficient enforcement is performed by the group communication system. 1

Abstract. Downward communication is a popular push-based scheme to forward messages from headquarters to front-line staff in a large-scaled company. With the maturing intranet and web technology, broadcasting algorithms, including pull-based and push-based broadcasting algorithms, it is feasible to send downward messages through web-based design by sending packets on a network. To avoid losing messages due to the traditional push-based method, companies adopt a pull-based algorithm to build up the broadcasting system. However, although the pull-based method can ensure that a message is received, it has a critical problem, the network is always congested. The push-based method can avoid congesting the network, but it needs a specific robust design to ensure that the message reaches its destination. Hence, adopting only a pull-based or a push-based broadcasting algorithm is no longer feasible especially not for a large-scaled company with complex network architecture. To ensure that every receiver will read downward messages thereby reducing the consumption of network bandwidth, this work proposes a robust web-based push- and pull-based broadcasting system for sending downward messages. This proposed system was successfully applied to a large-scaled company for a one-year period.

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