Abstract
A key assignment scheme is a protocol to assign encryption keys and some private information to a set of disjoint user classes in a system organized as a partially ordered hierarchy. The encryption key enables each class to protect its data by means of a symmetric cryptosystem, whereas, the private information allows each class to compute the keys assigned to classes lower down in the hierarchy.
In this paper we consider a particular kind of a hierarchy: the complete rooted tree hierarchy. We propose a key assignment scheme which is not based on unproven specific computational assumptions and that guarantees security against an adversary controlling a coalition of classes of a certain size. Moreover, the proposed scheme is optimal both with respect to the size of the information kept secret by each class and with respect to the randomness needed to set up the scheme.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Akl, S.G., Taylor, P.D.: Cryptographic Solution to a Problem of Access Control in a Hierarchy. ACM Trans. Comput. Syst. 1(3), 239–248 (1983)
Chang, C.C., Hwang, R.J., Wu, T.C.: Cryptographic Key Assignment Scheme for Access Control in a Hierarchy. Information Systems 17(3), 243–247 (1992)
Cover, T.M., Thomas, J.A.: Elements of Information Theory. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester (1991)
De Santis, A., Ferrara, A.L., Masucci, B.: Unconditionally Secure Key Assignment Schemes. Discrete Applied Mathematics 154(2), 234–252 (2006)
De Santis, A., Ferrara, A.L., Masucci, B.: Cryptographic Key Assignment Schemes for Any Access Control Policy. Inf. Process. Lett. 92(4), 199–205 (2004)
Ferrara, A.L., Masucci, B.: An Information-Theoretic Approach to the Access Control Problem. In: Blundo, C., Laneve, C. (eds.) ICTCS 2003. LNCS, vol. 2841, pp. 342–354. Springer, Heidelberg (2003)
Graham, R.L., Knuth, D.E., Patashnik, O.: Concrete Mathematics. A Foundation for Computer Science. Addison-Wesley, Reading (1988)
Hwang, M.S.: A Cryptographic Key Assignment Scheme in a Hierarchy for Access Control. Math. Comput. Modeling 26(1), 27–31 (1997)
Hwang, M.S.: An Improvement of a Dynamic Cryptographic Key Assignment Scheme in a Tree Hierarchy. Comput. Math. Appl. 37(3), 19–22 (1999)
Knuth, D.E., Yao, A.C.: The Complexity of Nonuniform Random Number Generation. In: Algorithms and Complexity, pp. 357–428. Academic Press, London (1976)
Liaw, H.T., Wang, S.J., Lei, C.L.: A Dynamic Cryptographic Key Assignment Scheme in a Tree Structure. Comput. Math. Appl. 25(6), 109–114 (1993)
Liaw, H.T., Lei, C.L.: An Optimal Algorithm to Assign Cryptographic Keys in a Tree Structure for Access Control. BIT 33, 46–56 (1993)
Lin, C.H.: Dynamic Key Management Schemes for Access Control in a Hierarchy. Computer Communications 20, 1381–1385 (1997)
MacKinnon, S.J., Taylor, P.D., Meijer, H., Akl, S.G.: An Optimal Algorithm for Assigning Cryptographic Keys to Control Access in a Hierarchy. IEEE Trans. Comput. 34(9), 797–802 (1985)
Sandhu, R.S.: Cryptographic Implementation of a Tree Hierarchy for Access Control. Inf. Process. Lett. 27, 95–98 (1988)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
De Santis, A., Ferrara, A.L., Masucci, B. (2006). A New Key Assignment Scheme for Access Control in a Complete Tree Hierarchy. In: Ytrehus, Ø. (eds) Coding and Cryptography. WCC 2005. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 3969. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/11779360_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/11779360_17
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-540-35481-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-540-35482-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)