Quantum Robust Hash-based Signatures

Public key methods provide us with ways of both authenticating the sender, and the integrity of the method. Unfortunately most of the methods which are used to create these signatures, such as with prime number factorization (as with RSA) and in elliptic curve methods, will be cracked with quantum computers. This article outlines some of the hash-based signature methods which could be used as a basis for hash-based signatures.

Introduction

Many of the problems we see on the Internet relate to the lack of trust within transactions. The emails you receive and the Web sites that you visit often have very little trust built into them. For trust we examine the email address of the sender, but anyone can fake that address. So increasingly we create digital signatures, and where we sign our messages with a private key. In this way, we can check for authentication, integrity and non-repudiation.

With this Alice creates a key-pair: a public key and a private key. She then takes a hash of the message, and encrypts this hash with her private key (this is her signature), and passes the message and the signature to Bob. Bob then reads the message and takes a hash of…