Modification and optimisation of an ElGamal-based PVSS scheme

Abstract

Among the existing PVSS schemes, a proposal by Shoemakers is a very special one. It avoids a common problem in PVSS design and costly operations by generating the secret to share in a certain way. Although its special secret generation brings some limitations to its application, its improvement in simplicity and efficiency is significant. However, its computational cost is still linear in the square of the number of share holders. Moreover, appropriate measures need to be taken to extend its application. In this paper, the PVSS scheme is modified to improve its efficiency and applicability. Firstly, a more efficient proof technique is designed to reduce the computational cost of the PVSS scheme to be linear in the number of share holders. Secondly, its secret generation procedure is extended to achieve better flexibility and applicability. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.