A Survey of Attacks on Multivariate Cryptosystems

Abstract

This thesis provides a survey of the attacks on multivariate cryptosystems. We begin by providing an outline of the general multivariate cryptosystem. Proceeding from there, we show that even with this level of detail, there are several attacks that are possible, including the method of Groebner bases, the XL method, and the recently announced method of Dixon resultants. Less general attack techniques also exist, such as MinRank attacks and differential analysis. These attacks lack the universality of the first three mentioned. In order to explore these less general attacks further, more details are required, so we present four different multivariate cryptosystems. Then, we attack them, using the less general attacks of MinRank, differential analysis and even an attack specific to one system. This concludes our study of the attacks themselves, and we move on to note that not all routes of attack are promising. Specifically, quantum computing does not seem to be helpful beyond the quadratic speed-up of Grover's algorithm. We also note that not all multivariate cryptosystems have been successfully attacked as of the writing of this thesis. We conclude with the fact that multivariate cryptography is gaining more and more active study.