Pairing-Based Cryptography: Past, Present, and Future

Abstract

While pairings were first introduced in cryptography as a tool to attack the discrete-log problem on certain elliptic curves, they have since found numerous applications in the construction of cryptographic systems. To this day many problems can only be solved using pairings. A few examples include collusion-resistant broadcast encryption and traitor tracing with short keys, 3-way Diffie-Hellman, and short signatures.