Gabriel Kaptchuk (Johns Hopkins University), Matthew Green (Johns Hopkins University), Ian Miers (Cornell Tech)

In this work we investigate the problem of achieving secure computation by combining stateless trusted devices with public ledgers. We consider a hybrid paradigm in which a client-side device (such as a co-processor or trusted enclave) performs secure computation, while interacting with a public ledger via a possibly malicious host computer. We explore both the constructive and potentially destructive implications of such systems. We first show that this combination allows for the construction of stateful interactive functionalities (including general computation) even when the device has no persistent storage; this allows us to build sophisticated applications using inexpensive trusted hardware or even pure cryptographic obfuscation techniques. We further show how to use this paradigm to achieve censorship-resistant communication with a network, even when network communications are mediated by a potentially malicious host. Finally we describe a number of practical applications that can be achieved today. These include the synchronization of private smart contracts; rate limited mandatory logging; strong encrypted backups from weak passwords; enforcing fairness in multi-party computation; and destructive applications such as autonomous ransomware, which allows for payments without an online party.

View More Papers

Cracking the Wall of Confinement: Understanding and Analyzing Malicious...

Eihal Alowaisheq (Indiana University, King Saud University), Peng Wang (Indiana University), Sumayah Alrwais (King Saud University), Xiaojing Liao (Indiana University), XiaoFeng Wang (Indiana University), Tasneem Alowaisheq (Indiana University, King Saud University), Xianghang Mi (Indiana University), Siyuan Tang (Indiana University), Baojun Liu (Tsinghua University)

Read More

CodeAlchemist: Semantics-Aware Code Generation to Find Vulnerabilities in JavaScript...

HyungSeok Han (KAIST), DongHyeon Oh (KAIST), Sang Kil Cha (KAIST)

Read More

JavaScript Template Attacks: Automatically Inferring Host Information for Targeted...

Michael Schwarz (Graz University of Technology), Florian Lackner (Graz University of Technology), Daniel Gruss (Graz University of Technology)

Read More

Unveiling your keystrokes: A Cache-based Side-channel Attack on Graphics...

Daimeng Wang (University of California Riverside), Ajaya Neupane (University of California Riverside), Zhiyun Qian (University of California Riverside), Nael Abu-Ghazaleh (University of California Riverside), Srikanth V. Krishnamurthy (University of California Riverside), Edward J. M. Colbert (Virginia Tech), Paul Yu (U.S. Army Research Lab (ARL))

Read More