Another look at generic groups

Abstract

Starting with Shoup's seminal paper [24], the generic\rgroup model has been an important tool in reductionist security\rarguments. After an informal explanation of this model and\rShoup's theorem, we discuss the danger of flaws in proofs. We\rnext describe an ontological difference between the generic\rgroup assumption and the random oracle model for hash\rfunctions. We then examine some criticisms that have\rbeen leveled at the generic group model and raise some\rquestions of our own.\r