Locally decodable and updatable non-malleable codes and their applications (Q2303459)

The paper provides the reader with two new constructions regarding locally decodable and updatable non-malleable codes, a notion introduced by the authors of the mentioned work. The proposed concept is showed to be very important in terms of security against physical attacks. The paper is structured in four sections. The introduction is a very well documented section with respect to non-malleable codes, physical attacks and the connection between these two notions as well as their applications both in coding theory and cryptography. Also, local decodability and updatability are tackled. The introduction includes a set of definitions which are further used by the authors to present their schemes. The recalled references and concepts represent the main ideas on which the article is based. Moreover, subsequent work is presented at the end of the section. In Section 2, entitled Locally decodable and updatable non-malleable codes, some detailed preliminaries regarding leakage-resilient codes are presented, the proposed notion of locally decodable and updatable non-malleable codes is discussed and the security of some closely related concepts is analyzed. Section 3, Our constructions, presents both a one-time secure construction of locally decodable and updatable non-malleable codes and a version which is resistant to continual attacks. Also, the security proofs are very well detailed and other instantiations are given at the end of the section. In Tamper and leakage-resilient RAM, the 4th section of the article, the authors discuss methods of securing RAM computation against memory tampering and leakage attacks from the point of view of their proposed notion. Moreover, the security of their proposed applications is discussed. Relevant references are given at the end of the paper. The technical concepts and properties introduced throughout the article are described in a clear and formal manner. The results of this work are suitable for specialized graduate students which already have technical background regarding the topic of non-malleable codes and physical attacks and, especially, researchers. We could not identify aspects which are not in accordance with the scope of the paper or other incorrect details. The work misses a section of conclusions and very few unimportant typos have been spotted. In conclusion, we believe that the current article is an impressive work especially for researchers interested in technical aspects and new results regarding non-malleable codes and their applications.