A proof viewer for state-separating proofs: Yao's garbling scheme

Abstract

Cryptographic proofs are the most important aspect of reasoning about a protocol/construction's security. Hence, \emph{effective} proof communication is a natural and important goal for cryptographers. In this work, we focus on using the state separating proofs (SSP) framework for proving the security of cryptographic protocols. The central cryptographic construction we study throughout this work is Yao's garbling scheme, a way to achieve secure multi-party computation (MPC). Complex cryptographic protocols such as Yao's garbling scheme, tend to have long proofs. Moreover, SSPs tend to be detailed and visual in nature. Hence, our primary objective is the creation of an \emph{SSP proof viewer}, a suitable medium for viewing SSP proofs. Our second objective is to present the security Yao's garbling scheme effectively. Thirdly, we aim to find properties and methods of effective proof communication in the field of cryptography. Lastly we test our ideas on proof communication and the effectiveness of the proof viewer, weconduct a small user study on a group of cryptography course participants. The results of this study suggests that our ideas of proof communication and the proof viewer are useful and effective.