Eth IKS: Using ethereum to audit a CONIKS key transparency log

Joseph Bonneau

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

CONIKS is a proposed key transparency system which enables a centralized service provider to maintain an auditable yet privacy-preserving directory of users’ public keys. In the original CONIKS design, users must monitor that their data is correctly included in every published snapshot of the directory, necessitating either slow updates or trust in an unspecified third-party to audit that the data structure has stayed consistent. We demonstrate that the data structures for CONIKS are very similar to those used in Ethereum, a consensus computation platform with a Turing-complete programming environment. We can take advantage of this to embed the core CONIKS data structures into an Ethereum contract with only minor modifications. Users may then trust the Ethereum network to audit the data structure for consistency and non-equivocation. Users who do not trust (or are unaware of) Ethereum can self-audit the CONIKS data structure as before. We have implemented a prototype contract for our hybrid EthIKS scheme, demonstrating that it adds only modest bandwidth overhead to CONIKS proofs and costs hundredths of pennies per key update in fees at today’s rates.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationFinancial Cryptography and Data Security - International Workshops, FC 2016, BITCOIN, VOTING, and WAHC, Revised Selected Papers
EditorsKurt Rohloff, Jeremy Clark, Sarah Meiklejohn, Dan Wallach, Michael Brenner, Peter Y.A. Ryan
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages95-105
Number of pages11
ISBN (Print)9783662533567
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016
EventInternational Workshops on Financial Cryptography and Data Security, FC 2016 and 3rd Workshop on Bitcoin and Blockchain Research, BITCOIN 2016, 1st Workshop on Advances in Secure Electronic Voting Schemes, VOTING 2016, and 4th Workshop on Encrypted Computing and Applied Homomorphic Cryptography, WAHC 2016 - Christ Church, Barbados
Duration: Feb 26 2016Feb 26 2016

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume9604 LNCS
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Other

OtherInternational Workshops on Financial Cryptography and Data Security, FC 2016 and 3rd Workshop on Bitcoin and Blockchain Research, BITCOIN 2016, 1st Workshop on Advances in Secure Electronic Voting Schemes, VOTING 2016, and 4th Workshop on Encrypted Computing and Applied Homomorphic Cryptography, WAHC 2016
Country/TerritoryBarbados
CityChrist Church
Period2/26/162/26/16

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Eth IKS: Using ethereum to audit a CONIKS key transparency log'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this