Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

International Conference on Information Security

ISC 2001: Information Security pp 394–407Cite as

Efficient Optimistic N-Party Contract Signing Protocol

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 2200))

Abstract

Contract signing is a fundamental service in the environment of the electronic commerce. It is a kind of fair exchange of values: a signature on a text contract for another signature on the same text. We present a fair protocol that requires the existence and possible involvement of a TTP (trusted third party), but it only intervenes in case of exception (it plays a subsidiary role). The protocol is the best solution to the date in terms of efficiency. We present and analyse a two-party and three-party version of the protocol, and we outline an N-party version. Finally, it is very simple and easy to understand. If we think that at the end some conflicts will be solved in courts, it is a non worthless characteristic.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

References

  1. N. Asokan, Matthias Schunter and Michael Waidner: “Optimistic protocols for fair exchange”; Proceedings of 4th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, pages 7–17, Zurich, Switzerland, April 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  2. N. Asokan, Victor Shoup and Michael Waidner: “Asynchronous Protocols for Optimistic Fair Exchange”; Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Research in Security and Privacy, pages 86–99, Oakland, CA, May 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Michael Ben-Or, Oded Goldreich, Silvio Micali and Ronald L. Rivest: “A Fair Protocol for Signing Contracts”; IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, Vol. 36, n. 1, pages 40–46, January 1990.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. F. Bao, Robert H. Deng and W. Mao: “Efficient and practical fair exchange protocols with off-line TTP”; Proceedings of the IEEE Symposium on Research in Security and Privacy, pages 77–85, Oakland, CA, May 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Josep L. Ferrer, Àngel Rotger and Llorenç Huguet: “Firma electrónica de contratos”; Proceedings of III Reunión Española de Criptología, Barcelona (Spain), 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Birgit Baum-Weidner and Michael Waidner: “Round-optimal and abuse-free multi-party contract signing”; Proceedings of 27th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages and Programming (ICALP’2000), LNCS 1853, Springer Verlag, pages 524–535, July 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Macià Mut, Josep L. Ferrer and Llorenç Huguet: “Certified Electronic Mail Protocol Resistant to a Minority of Malicious Third Parties”; Proceedings of IEEE Infocom 2000, Tel Aviv (Israel), March 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  8. Josep L. Ferrer, Llorenç Huguet and Macià Mut: “Protocolo de Correo Electrónico Certificado”; Proceedings of V Reunión Española de Criptología, Málaga, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Ivan Bjerre Damgard: “Practical and provably secure release of a secret and exchange of signatures”; Advances in Cryptology-Proceedings of Eurocrypt’93, LNCS 765, pages 200–217, Springer Verlag, (Lofthus, Norway), May 1993.

    Google Scholar 

  10. J.L. Ferrer and L. Huguet: “An Efficient Asynchronous Protocol for Optimistic Certified Electronic Mail”; International Workshop on Cryptographic Techniques & E-commerce, Hong Kong, July 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Matthew K. Franklin and Michael K. Reiter: “Fair exchange with a semi-trusted third party”; Proceedings of 4th ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security, pages 1–6, Zurich, Switzerland, April 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  12. N. Asokan, Birgit Baum-Waidner, Matthias Schunter and Michael Waidner: “Optimistic synchronous multi-party contract signing”; Research Report RZ 3089, IBM Research Division, December 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  13. Birgit Baum-Waidner and Michael Waidner: “Optimistic asynchronous multi-party contract signing”; Research Report RZ 3078, IBM Research Division, November 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  14. N. Asokan, Matthias Schunter and Michael Waidner: “Optimistic protocols for multi-party fair exchange”; Research Report RZ 2892 (#90840), IBM Research, December 1996.

    Google Scholar 

  15. T. Okamoto and K. Ohta: “How to simultaneously exchange secrets by general assumptions”; Proceedings of IEEE Symposium on Research in Security and Privacy, pages 14–28, Fairfax, Virginia, November 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Shimon Even, Oded Goldreich and Abraham Lempel: “A Randomized Protocol for Signing Contracts”; Communications of the ACM 28/6, pp. 637–647, June 1985.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  17. Oded Goldreich: “A simple protocol for signing contracts”; Proceedings of a Workshop on the Theory and Application of Cryptographic Techniques, Crypto ’83, Plenum Press, pp. 133–136. New York, 1984.

    Google Scholar 

  18. R. Rivest, A. Shamir and L. Adleman: “A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public Key Cryptosystems”; Communications of the ACM, 21, pages 120–126, 1978.

    Article  MATH  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  19. Josep-Lluís Ferrer-Gomila, Magdalena Payeras-Capellà and Llorenç Huguet i Rotger: “An Efficient Protocol for Certified Electronic Mail”; Proceedings of Third International Workshop on Information Security, ISW 2000, LNCS 1975, Springer Verlag, pages 237–248, Wollongong, Australia, December 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Jianying Zhou and Dieter Gollmann: “An Efficient Non-repudiation Protocol”; Proceedings of 10th IEEE Computer Security Foundations Workshop, pages 126–132, Rockport, Massachusetts, IEEE Computer Society Press, June 1997.

    Google Scholar 

  21. Jianying Zhou, Robert Deng and Feng Bao: “Some Remarks on a Fair Exchange Protocol”; Proceedings of Third International Workshop on Practice and Theory in Public Key Cryptosystems, PKC 2000, LNCS 1751, Springer Verlag, pages 46–57, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, January 2000.

    Google Scholar 

  22. Juan A. Garay, Markus Jakobsson and Philip MacKenzie: “Abuse-Free Optimistic Contract Signing”; Advances in Cryptology-Proceedings of CRYPTO’99, LNCS-1666, pages 449–466, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Birgit Pfitzmann, Matthias Schunter and Michael Waidner: “Optimal Efficiency of Optimistic Contract Signing”; Proceedings of 17th Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing, PODC’98, ACM, New York, pages 113–122, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departament de Ciències Matemàtiques i Informàtica, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Carretera de Valldemossa km. 7.5, Palma de Mallorca, 07071, Spain

    Josep L. Ferrer-Gomila, Magadalena Payeras-Capellà & Llorenç Huguet-Rotger

Authors
  1. Josep L. Ferrer-Gomila
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Magadalena Payeras-Capellà
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Llorenç Huguet-Rotger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of EECS, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, 53201, USA

    George I. Davida

  2. Techtegrity, LLC, 122 Harrison, Westfield, NJ, 07090, USA

    Yair Frankel

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2001 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this paper

Cite this paper

Ferrer-Gomila, J.L., Payeras-Capellà, M., Huguet-Rotger, L. (2001). Efficient Optimistic N-Party Contract Signing Protocol. In: Davida, G.I., Frankel, Y. (eds) Information Security. ISC 2001. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 2200. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45439-X_27

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/3-540-45439-X_27

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-42662-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-45439-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation