Threshold secret sharing requires a linear size alphabet

Andrej Bogdanov, Siyao Guo, Ilan Komargodski

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

We prove that for every n and 1 < t < n any t-out-of-n threshold secret sharing scheme for one-bit secrets requires share size log(t + 1). Our bound is tight when t = n − 1 and n is a prime power. In 1990 Kilian and Nisan proved the incomparable bound log(n−t+2). Taken together, the two bounds imply that the share size of Shamir’s secret sharing scheme (Comm. ACM ’79) is optimal up to an additive constant even for one-bit secrets for the whole range of parameters 1 < t < n. More generally, we show that for all 1 < s < r < n, any ramp secret sharing scheme with secrecy threshold s and reconstruction threshold r requires share size log((r + 1)/(r − s)). As part of our analysis we formulate a simple game-theoretic relaxation of secret sharing for arbitrary access structures. We prove the optimality of our analysis for threshold secret sharing with respect to this method and point out a general limitation.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationTheory of Cryptography - 14th International Conference, TCC 2016-B, Proceedings
EditorsAdam Smith, Martin Hirt
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages471-484
Number of pages14
ISBN (Print)9783662536438
DOIs
StatePublished - 2016
Externally publishedYes
Event14th International Conference on Theory of Cryptography, TCC 2016-B - Beijing, China
Duration: 31 Oct 20163 Nov 2016

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume9986 LNCS

Conference

Conference14th International Conference on Theory of Cryptography, TCC 2016-B
Country/TerritoryChina
CityBeijing
Period31/10/163/11/16

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

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