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ACE: The Advanced Cryptographic Engine

Synopsis:

The Advanced Cryptographic Engine (ACE) is a library of software routines that implement a public key encryption scheme as well as a digital signature scheme. The encryption scheme is called ``ACE Encrypt,'' and the signature scheme is called ``ACE Sign.'' These schemes are almost as efficient as commercially used schemes, yet unlike such schemes, can be proven secure under reasonable and well-defined intractability assumptions. The schemes implemented are particular variants of the Cramer-Shoup encryption scheme and the Cramer-Shoup signature scheme. These variants have been finely tuned to strike a good balance between efficiency and security.

A Reference Implementation:

We have built a reference implementation of ACE in portable ANSI C, based on the GMP long integer package.

This software will soon be available for downloading.

The ACE Documents:

  1. ACE: The Advanced Cryptographic Engine, T. Schweinberger and V. Shoup, manuscript 2000.

    Contains a detailed specification of ACE Encrypt and ACE Sign, including a detailed, concrete security analysis, and implementation notes.

  2. ACE Encrypt: The Advanced Cryptographic Engine's public key encryption scheme, T. Schweinberger and V. Shoup. Manuscript 2000.

    An abridged version of the above, describing only ACE Encrypt.

  3. A composition theorem for universal one-way hash functions, V. Shoup. To appear in Eurocrypt 2000.

    Describes the new hash function used in ACE.

  4. Using hash functions as a hedge against chosen ciphertext attack, V. Shoup. To appear in Eurocrypt 2000.

    Describes the basic principles of the hybrid design used for ACE Encrypt.

  5. Signature schemes based on the Strong RSA Assumption, R. Cramer, V. Shoup. Full length version of the extended abstract in Proc. ACM CCS 1999.

    Describes the basic principles of the ACE Sign.

  6. Why chosen ciphertext security matters, V. Shoup. IBM Research Report RZ 3076, November, 1998.

    An expository paper describing the importance of non-malleability, a.k.a. chosen ciphertext security.

  7. A practical public key cryptosystem provably secure against adaptive chosen ciphertext attack, R. Cramer, V. Shoup. In Proc. Crypto '98.

    Describes the basic principles underlying ACE Encrypt.

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