Symmetric authentication codes with secrecy and unconditionally secure authenticated encryption

Abstract

Unconditional security provides security independent of assumptions regarding adversaries resources. Considerable research has been carried out into unconditionally secure authentication codes without secrecy, wherein the confidentiality of the plaintext is unimportant. Unconditionally secure encryption has been less thoroughly studied. The traditional framework for considering integrity and confidentiality in an unconditionally secure environment is that of authentication codes with secrecy. We extend this framework, in the symmetric case, to encompass aspects of recent work on unconditionally secure formulations of authentication codes and encryption systems. This will allow for a systematic analysis of unconditionally secure authenticated encryption schemes. © Springer-Verlag 2004.