## Cryptology ePrint Archive: Report 2014/507

How to Generate and use Universal Parameters

Dennis Hofheinz and Tibor Jager and Dakshita Khurana and Amit Sahai and Brent Waters and Mark Zhandry

Abstract: We introduce the notion of \emph{universal parameters} as a method for generating the trusted parameters for many schemes from just a single trusted setup. In such a scheme a trusted setup process will produce universal parameters $U$. These parameters can then be combined with the description, $d(\cdot)$ of any particular cryptographic setup algorithm to produce parameters $p_d$ that can be used by the cryptographic system associated with $d$. We give a solution in the random oracle model based on indistinguishability obfuscation.

We demonstrate the versatility of universal parameters by showing how they give rise to applications such as identity-based encryption and multiparty key exchange. More generally, our applications are driven from the observation that universal parameters can also be seen as universal samplers, allowing a user to \emph{sample} from arbitrary efficiently sampleable distributions.

Category / Keywords: cryptographic protocols / obfuscation

Date: received 27 Jun 2014, last revised 15 Sep 2014

Contact author: amitsahai at gmail com

Available format(s): PDF | BibTeX Citation

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