1. PAR for P1363.3
Title:
Standard for Pairing based Cryptographic Techniques
June 4, 2005
PAR for IEEE P1363.3

2. Scope:
“Specification of Identity-Based cryptographic techniques based on Pairings.
Specification of
Pairings,
algorithms to compute the pairings,
recommended elliptic curves and curve parameters.”
June 4, 2005
PAR for IEEE P1363.3

3. What is Identity-Based Cryptography?
Basic Idea: Public-key Encryption with identities as Public Keys
Users have a public and a private key
Public key is common names, numbers, pre-existing identifiers
Private key is issued by an authority using a master key
Simplifies Key Management – No key lookup, allows use of short lived keys etc..
IBE Public Key:
RSA Public Key:
Public exponent = 0x10001
Modulus =
June 4, 2005
PAR for IEEE P1363.3

4. What are Pairings? Mappings between mathematical groups
Bilinear, non-degenerate, & efficiently computable
Examples: Weil pairings, Tate pairings
Can be exploited for good or bad
basis for cryptographic attacks (c. 1993), or
building new cryptographic systems (c. 2000)
June 4, 2005
PAR for IEEE P1363.3

5. Why standardize Pairing-Based Cryptography?
Strong Momentum in Industry
Several companies have developed applications (Hewlett-Packard, NTT, Gemplus, ST Microelectronics, Voltage, NoreTech…)
10,000’s of IBE based encryption users alone
Hardware support for PBC from leading smart card vendors
Interest from NSA, GCHQ and NIST
Strong Demand for a Standard
Customers have voiced strong need for standardization
Message format and protocol standards need a cryptographic foundation
All companies and organizations listed above are supportive of the standards effort
June 4, 2005
PAR for IEEE P1363.3

6. Why standardize Pairing-Based Cryptography?
Major Interest from the Research Community
Over 250 scientific publications on Identity-Based Techniques and Pairings (Google Scholar)
Workshop on Pairing Based Cryptography (June 2005)
Special edition of Journal of Cryptology on Pairings
RSA Conference Award for Mathematics awarded to Dan Boneh for IBE and PBC
June 4, 2005
PAR for IEEE P1363.3

7. Reason for project (from PAR)
“Identity-Based Cryptographic techniques based on pairings have received considerable attention in academia and industry over the last years.
Over 250 academic publications reference identity-based cryptographic techniques,
industry has started to deploy identity-based software and
hardware vendors have announced hardware support for identity-based techniques.
The reason for this working group is to foster a common standard on identity-based cryptographic techniques based on Pairings.”
June 4, 2005
PAR for IEEE P1363.3

8. Relationship to other 1363 standards
Another form of public key cryptography
different than 1363, 1363-a, P and P1363.2
Pairings are not covered in other 1363’s
Identity Based crypto is not in other 1363’s
Uses techniques & foundation of 1363/1363a
e.g. field arithmetic, elliptic curve techniques
June 4, 2005
PAR for IEEE P1363.3

9. Purpose:
“The proliferation of electronic communication and the internet, brings with it the need for privacy and data protection. Public Key Cryptography offers fundamental technology addressing this need. Many alternative public-key techniques have been proposed, each with its own benefits. The IEEE 1363 Standard and P1363a project have produced a comprehensive reference defining a range of common public-key techniques covering key agreement, public-key encryption and digital signatures from several families, namely the discrete logarithm, integer factorization, and elliptic curve families.
IEEE P will specify Identity-Based Cryptographic techniques based on Pairings. These offer advantages over classic public key techniques specified in IEEE 1363, examples are the lack of a requirement to exchange or look up public keys of a recipient and the simplified use of short-lived keys.”
June 4, 2005
PAR for IEEE P1363.3