Perfect uniformly robust secret sharing scheme for a vector access structure
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20535/2411-1031.2026.14.1.365483Keywords:
cybersecurity, cryptographic information protection, access control, secret sharing scheme, unconditional security, vector access structure, robustnessAbstract
A secret sharing scheme is a cryptographic protocol designed to distribute a secret among designated participants in such a way that only certain (authorized) coalitions of participants can reconstruct the value of the secret by combining the components (shares of the secret) they receive. The set of all authorized coalitions of participants is called an access structure. Vector secret sharing schemes are constructed using linear block codes over finite fields so that the sets of participants’ shares are random codewords whose first coordinate equals the value of the secret. Any access structure for which there exists a vector scheme implementing it is called a vector access structure. One of the requirements imposed on modern secret sharing schemes is unconditional resistance to attacks by “dishonest” participants who may substitute their obtained shares in order to distort the value of the secret during its reconstruction. Such schemes are called robust. A secret sharing scheme is said to be uniformly robust if it remains robust regardless of the method used to select the set of secret keys from the set of all elements that can potentially be distributed. At present, uniformly robust secret sharing schemes are known only for a narrow class of threshold access structures. This paper proposes a construction of a uniformly robust secret sharing scheme for an arbitrary vector access structure. The construction is based on the use of random block codes that are equivalent to a predetermined code defining the underlying vector secret sharing scheme. Informally, the robustness of the resulting scheme relies on the participants’ lack of complete information about the selected code. The scientific basis of the proposed method for constructing uniformly robust secret sharing schemes is an obtained analytical relation that provides an upper bound on the probability of successful substitution of shares by participants of unauthorized coalitions with the aim of distorting the secret. The practical significance of the obtained results lies in the possibility of applying the proposed construction to the development of cryptographic protocols for distributed storage and processing of confidential information with increased resistance to actions of dishonest participants. The proposed approach can be used in access control systems, distributed information systems, and collaborative data storage services where it is necessary to guarantee the integrity and correctness of secret reconstruction.
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