Fuse: Space-Efficient Token-Based Key Exchange using Elliptic Curves

Abstract

This thesis presents a novel implementation of a Non-Interactive Key Exchange (NIKE) protocol using features from Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE) to achieve a highly space-efficient key distribution scheme. Our Token-Based Key Exchange (TBKE) implementation enables scalable symmetric key generation through compact, capability-based tokens, making it particularly suited for resource-constrained environments such as large-scale IoT systems. Developed in Python, our implementation uses well-established elliptic curve cryptography and bilinear pairings to instantiate the TBKE protocol. Through experimental evaluation, we show that TBKE enables a device to generate 1 gigabyte of 256-bit AES keys with as little as 6 kilobytes of storage space.

This thesis presents a novel implementation of a Non-Interactive Key Exchange (NIKE) protocol using features from Attribute-Based Encryption (ABE) to achieve a highly space-efficient key distribution scheme. Our Token-Based Key Exchange (TBKE) implementation enables scalable symmetric key generation through compact, capability-based tokens, making it particularly suited for resource-constrained environments such as large-scale IoT systems. Developed in Python, our implementation uses well-established elliptic curve cryptography and bilinear pairings to instantiate the TBKE protocol. Through experimental evaluation, we show that TBKE enables a device to generate 1 gigabyte of 256-bit AES keys with as little as 6 kilobytes of storage space.