ERC Starting grant - GA 101077455 — ObfusQation

Principal Investigator: Giulio Malavolta

Abstract:

Program obfuscation is a central building block in cryptography and has been conjectured to be crypto-complete: It subsumes
virtually all known cryptographic primitives and extends the scope of cryptography with new capabilities. Yet when bringing
quantum computation into the picture our understanding of obfuscation is inadequate: (i) On the one hand quantum algorithms
break most known constructions of obfuscation and the few that survive are based on poorly understood computational
assumptions. (ii) On the other hand obfuscation is limited to classical programs and thus fails to cater the potential advantages
of quantum computation. The notion of obfuscation of quantum programs is largely unexplored. At present we do not even
know a heuristic construction of quantum obfuscation let alone a provably-secure one. The goal of this research program is to
place obfuscation on firm footing even in a quantum world. We will develop new constructions of classical obfuscation that are
provably secure against quantum algorithms. Then using this cryptographic tool we will systematically tackle the question of
obfuscating quantum programs. Quantum obfuscation will provide the theoretical foundation for cryptography secure against
quantum attacks and will open the floodgate for new applications of cryptography in a quantum world.