Group Actions and their Cryptographic Applications

“Doc in Progress” are pleased to introduce you to:

"Group Actions and their Cryptographic Applications"

• Giuseppe D'Alconzo – Politecnico di Torino 

Abstract:
In recent times, cryptographic group actions have received significant attention as they provide a powerful framework for designing cryptographic primitives. Most notably, some of these assumptions are slightly affected by attacks from quantum computers, making this framework a strong candidate for post-quantum constructions.
In this talk, we will introduce the concept of cryptographic group actions and their associated assumptions. We will provide examples ranging from pre-quantum instances to the most recent post-quantum instantiations and their applications will be highlighted, with particular attention on the standard construction of a digital signature scheme. As an example, we will introduce the Matrix Equivalence Digital Signature (MEDS) scheme from AfricaCrypt 2023 and its underlying group action. 
This scheme is based on linear codes in the rank metric and is a potential candidate for NIST's ongoing standardization of post-quantum signatures. Additionally, we will evaluate the security of its parameter sets.