Zero-knowledge is a property attributed to interactive proofs, interactive arguments and noninteractive proofs. Since the soundness property protects the interest of the verifier, the zero-knowledge property protects the interest of the prover. By means of a zero-knowledge proof, the prover is able to convince the verifier of the validity of a given statement, without releasing any knowledge beyond the validity of the statement. (Note that the notion of witness hiding proofs provides an alternative to the notion of zero-knowledge proofs.)
In other words, from executing a zero-knowledge protocol with an honest prover, the verifier should learn nothing beyond the validity of the statement. This is captured by stating that whatever the verifier ‘sees' when interacting with the prover by means of the zero-knowledge protocol can be efficiently simulatedby the verifier itself. It is crucial to note that the zero-knowledge condition should be satisfied even if the verifier deviates from the...
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Schoenmakers, B. (2005). Zero-knowledge. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA . https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-23483-7_463
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