A Taxonomy of Ring Signature Schemes: Theory and Applications

Abstract

Ring signature is a primitive that allows an entity to sign a message on behalf of a group of potential signers (called a ring) while preserving unconditional anonymity in the ring. Ring signature has found many applications in fair exchange, electronic transaction protocols, and ad hoc networks. In this paper, a survey of ring signature from a number of perspectives is presented to provide researchers with a better understanding of this primitive. We survey the state-of-the-art of ring signature schemes along with the security model, and compare their security properties and efficiency. Furthermore, the extensions of ring signature schemes with special properties are also investigated.

Keywords:

• Anonymous authentication
• Ring signature
• Taxonomy
• Unconditional anonymity

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Hu Xiong

Hu Xiong is an Assistant Professor in the School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC). He received his Ph.D. degree from UESTC in 2009. His research interests include information security and cryptography. He has published more than 20 papers in international journals and conferences. E-mail: [email protected]

Zhiguang Qin

Zhiguang Qin received his Ph.D. Degree in 1996 and is a Professor in UESTC presently. His research interests include information security and computer network. He has published more than 50 papers in international journals and conferences. E-mail: [email protected]

Fagen Li

Fagen Li received his Ph.D. Degree in 2007 from Xidian University and is an Associate Professor in AESTC presently. His research interests include applied cryptography and network security. E-mail: [email protected]