Time-lock puzzle

A time-lock puzzle, or time-released cryptography, encrypts a message that cannot be decrypted until a specified amount of time has passed. The concept was first described by Timothy C. May,[1] and a solution first introduced by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and David A. Wagner in 1996.[2] Time-lock puzzle are useful in cases where confidentiality of information is determined by time, such as a diarist who does not want their views released until 50 years after their death, an auction where bids are sealed until the bidding period is closed, electronic voting, and contract signing.[1][3] They can additionally be used in creating further cryptographic primitives, such as verifiable delay functions and zero knowledge proofs.[3]

Time-released cryptography can be achieved through several different mechanisms.

  • Use mathematical problems requiring sequential calculations to solve, and cannot be solved with parallelization. Thus, adding more computers to a problem will not help solve the problem faster.[4]
  • Use of a trusted agent, or multiple agents who each hold a part of the message and cryptographic keys, who release the message after a specified time period has passed.[1]
  • Distribute public encryption keys to users, and place private cryptographic keys with a trusted agent in an offline location, to be released at a later date.[1]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Rivest, Ronald L., Adi Shamir, and David A. Wagner. "Time-lock puzzles and timed-release crypto." (1996).
  2. ^ Mahmoody, Mohammad, Tal Moran, and Salil Vadhan. "Time-lock puzzles in the random oracle model." In Advances in Cryptology–CRYPTO 2011: 31st Annual Cryptology Conference, Santa Barbara, CA, USA, August 14-18, 2011. Proceedings 31, pp. 39-50. Springer Berlin Heidelberg, 2011.
  3. ^ a b Katz, Jonathan, Julian Loss, and Jiayu Xu. "On the security of time-lock puzzles and timed commitments." In Theory of Cryptography: 18th International Conference, TCC 2020, Durham, NC, USA, November 16–19, 2020, Proceedings, Part III 18, pp. 390-413. Springer International Publishing, 2020.
  4. ^ Bitansky, Nir, Shafi Goldwasser, Abhishek Jain, Omer Paneth, Vinod Vaikuntanathan, and Brent Waters. "Time-lock puzzles from randomized encodings." In Proceedings of the 2016 ACM Conference on Innovations in Theoretical Computer Science, pp. 345-356. 2016.
Stub icon

This cryptography-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

Content Disclaimer

Informasi ini disarikan dari Wikipedia dan disajikan kembali untuk tujuan edukasi. Konten tersedia di bawah lisensi CC BY-SA 3.0. Kami tidak bertanggung jawab atas ketidakakuratan data yang bersumber dari kontribusi publik tersebut.

  1. The information displayed on this website is sourced in part or in whole from Wikipedia and has been adapted for the purpose of restating it. We strive to provide accurate and relevant information, however:
  2. There is no guarantee of absolute accuracy. Wikipedia is an open, collaborative project that can be edited by anyone, so information is subject to change.
  3. It is not intended to constitute professional advice. The content displayed is for informational and educational purposes only. For important decisions (e.g., medical, legal, or financial), please consult a professional.
  4. Content copyright. Wikipedia is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA). This means that content may be reused with appropriate attribution and shared under a similar license.
  5. Responsible use. Any risk arising from the use of information from this website is entirely the responsibility of the user.