Paper 2012/091

Hardness of decision (R)LWE for any modulus

Adeline Langlois and Damien Stehle

Abstract

The decision Learning With Errors problem has proven an extremely flexible foundation for devising provably secure cryptographic primitives. LWE can be expressed in terms of linear algebra over Z/qZ. This modulus q is the subject of study of the present work. When q is prime and small, or when it is exponential and composite with small factors, LWE is known to be at least as hard as standard worst-case problems over euclidean lattices (sometimes using quantum reductions). The Ring Learning With Errors problem is a structured variant of LWE allowing for more compact keys and more efficient primitives. It is known to be at least as hard as standard worst-case problems restricted to so-called ideal lattices, but under even more restrictive arithmetic conditions on q. In this work, we prove that the arithmetic form of the modulus q is irrelevant to the computational hardness of LWE and RLWE. More precisely, we show that these problems are at least as hard as standard worst-case problems on lattices, under the unique condition that q is of polynomial bit-size. This result is most useful for adapting LWE-based cryptographic constructions to the RLWE setting. Among others, this allows us to derive the first Identity-Based Encryption scheme of quasi-optimal performance proven secure under standard worst-case lattice assumptions, in the standard model. Other applications include authentication, functional encryption and traitor tracing.

Note: An improved article is in the works. Final and stronger results will be published in a paper titled "Classical hardness of Learning with Errors" with Zvika Brakerski, Adeline Langlois, Chris Peikert, Oded Regev and Damien Stehle