In the presence of a quantum adversary, there are two possible definitions of security for a pseudorandom function. The first, which we call standard-security, allows the adversary to be quantum, but requires queries to the function to be classical. The second, quantum-security, allows the adversary to query the function on a quantum superposition of inputs, thereby giving the adversary a superposition of the values of the function at many inputs at once. Existing techniques for proving the security of pseudorandom functions fail when the adversary can make quantum queries. We give the first quantum-security proofs for pseudorandom functions by showing that some classical constructions of pseudorandom functions are quantum-secure. Namely, we show that the standard constructions of pseudorandom functions from pseudorandom generators or pseudorandom synthesizers are secure, even when the adversary can make quantum queries. We also show that a direct construction from lattices is quantum-secure. To prove security, we develop new tools to prove the indistinguishability of distributions under quantum queries.In light of these positive results, one might hope that all standard-secure pseudorandom functions are quantum-secure. To the contrary, we show a separation: under the assumption that standard-secure pseudorandom functions exist, there are pseudorandom functions secure against quantum adversaries making classical queries, but insecure once the adversary can make quantum queries.

Deciding "greater-than" relations among data items just given their encryptions is at the heart of search algorithms on encrypted data, most notably, non-interactive binary search on encrypted data. Order-preserving encryption provides one solution, but provably provides only limited security guarantees. Two-input functional encryption is another approach, but requires the full power of obfuscation machinery and is currently not implementable.We construct the first implementable encryption system supporting greater-than comparisons on encrypted data that provides the "best-possible" semantic security. In our scheme there is a public algorithm that given two ciphertexts as input, reveals the order of the corresponding plaintexts and nothing else. Our constructions are inspired by obfuscation techniques, but do not use obfuscation. For example, to compare two 16-bit encrypted values (e.g., salaries or age) we only need a 9-way multilinear map. More generally, comparing k-bit values requires only a (k/2 + 1)-way multilinear map. The required degree of multilinearity can be further reduced, but at the cost of increasing ciphertext size.Beyond comparisons, our results give an implementable secret-key multi-input functional encryption scheme for functionalities that can be expressed as (generalized) branching programs of polynomial length and width. Comparisons are a special case of this class, where for k-bit inputs the branching program is of length k + 1 and width 4.

We initiate the study of quantum-secure digital signatures and quantum chosen ciphertext security. In the case of signatures, we enhance the standard chosen message query model by allowing the adversary to issue quantum chosen message queries: given a superposition of messages, the adversary receives a superposition of signatures on those messages. Similarly, for encryption, we allow the adversary to issue quantum chosen ciphertext queries: given a superposition of ciphertexts, the adversary receives a superposition of their decryptions. These adversaries model a natural ubiquitous quantum computing environment where end-users sign messages and decrypt ciphertexts on a personal quantum computer.We construct classical systems that remain secure when exposed to such quantum queries. For signatures, we construct two compilers that convert classically secure signatures into signatures secure in the quantum setting and apply these compilers to existing post-quantum signatures. We also show that standard constructions such as Lamport one-time signatures and Merkle signatures remain secure under quantum chosen message attacks, thus giving signatures whose quantum security is based on generic assumptions. For encryption, we define security under quantum chosen ciphertext attacks and present both public-key and symmetric-key constructions.

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Abstract. The interest in post-quantum cryptography -classical systems that remain secure in the presence of a quantum adversary -has generated elegant proposals for new cryptosystems. Some of these systems are set in the random oracle model and are proven secure relative to adversaries that have classical access to the random oracle. We argue that to prove post-quantum security one needs to prove security in the quantum-accessible random oracle model where the adversary can query the random oracle with quantum state. We begin by separating the classical and quantum-accessible random oracle models by presenting a scheme that is secure when the adversary is given classical access to the random oracle, but is insecure when the adversary can make quantum oracle queries. We then set out to develop generic conditions under which a classical random oracle proof implies security in the quantum-accessible random oracle model. We introduce the concept of a history-free reduction which is a category of classical random oracle reductions that basically determine oracle answers independently of the history of previous queries, and we prove that such reductions imply security in the quantum model. We then show that certain post-quantum proposals, including ones based on lattices, can be proven secure using history-free reductions and are therefore postquantum secure. We conclude with a rich set of open problems in this area.