Exploiting Pairing-Based Zero Knowledge Proof (ZKP) for Tactical Network Authentication

Zero-knowledge proofs ZKPs are protocols that enable a prover to convince a verifier of the truth of a statement without leaking any other information. The main properties of ZKP include completeness, soundness and zero-knowledge. These features are correlated with each other, and together with the lighter computational requirements, makes zero-knowledge protocols very attractive in authentication service in airborne networks. Although useful, the non-interactive zero-knowledge proofs based on standard cryptographic assumptions used to be inefficient and not useful in practice. The use of pairing-based ZKP on elliptic curves can potentially enhance the security strength of the system. Besides these advantages, pairing-based ZKPs can also integrate smoothly with other pairing-based cryptographic schemes e.g., identity-based encryption, pairing-based signatures, key agreement, and proxy re-encryption making the combined schemes quite efficient.