Abstract
The theory of relational parametricity and its logical relations proof technique are powerful tools for reasoning about information hiding in the polymorphic λ-calculus. We investigate the application of these tools in the security domain by defining a cryptographic λ-calculus - an extension of the standard simply typed λ-calculus with primitives for encryption, decryption, and key generation - and introducing syntactic logical relations (in the style of Pitts and Birkedal-Harper) for this calculus that can be used to prove behavioral equivalences between programs that use encryption. We illustrate the framework by encoding some simple security protocols, including the Needham-Schroeder public-key protocol. We give a natural account of the well-known attack on the original protocol and a straightforward proof that the improved variant of the protocol is secure.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 521-554 |
Number of pages | 34 |
Journal | Journal of Computer Security |
Volume | 11 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2003 Jan 1 |
Externally published | Yes |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Software
- Safety, Risk, Reliability and Quality
- Hardware and Architecture
- Computer Networks and Communications