Synonyms
Definition
Information authentication aims to verify with high probability that particular information is authentic, i.e., has not been changed.
Background
There is a rather common saying that cryptology has two faces. The first (and better known) face is cryptography in its narrow sense which aims to protect data (information) from being revealed to an opponent. The second face, known as authentication (also as known a information integrity), should guarantee with some confidence that given information is authentic, that is, has not been altered or substituted by the opponent. This confidence may depend on the computing power of the opponent (e.g., in a digital signature schemes this is the case) or not. The latter is called unconditional authentication and makes use of symmetric cryptosystems .
Theory
The model of unconditional authentication schemes (or, codes) consists of a sender, a receiver, and an opponent. The last one can observe all the...
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Recommended Reading
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Kabatiansky, G., Smeets, B. (2011). Authentication, From an Information Theoretic Perspective. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A., Jajodia, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_377
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