Improved proxy re-encryption schemes with applications to secure distributed storage

In 1998, Blaze, Bleumer, and Strauss (BBS) proposed an application called atomic proxy re-encryption, in which a semitrusted proxy converts a ciphertext for Alice into a ciphertext for Bob without seeing the underlying plaintext. We predict that fast and secure re-encryption will become increasingly popular as a method for managing encrypted file systems. Although efficiently computable, the wide-spread adoption of BBS re-encryption has been hindered by considerable security risks. Following recent work of Dodis and Ivan, we present new re-encryption schemes that realize a stronger notion of security and demonstrate the usefulness of proxy re-encryption as a method of adding access control to a secure file system. Performance measurements of our experimental file system demonstrate that proxy re-encryption can work effectively in practice.