Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP)
A main tool of Privacy-Enhancing Cryptography (PEC) is the Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP). It enables proving the truthfulness of a mathematical statement, without revealing additional information that may have been useful in finding said truthfulness. For technical reasons, it is often useful to refer to a "ZKP of Knowledge", where the proof that a statement is true is done by proxy of proving knowledge of some secret information (witness) that is consistent with a public instance that supports the statement. For example:
- Statement: "The number N is a valid RSA signing key"
- Instance: N
- Witness: Secret primes P and Q, satisfying P*Q = N and other properties required by FIPS 186-5
Besides being useful on their own, ZKPs are also useful in establishing correct behavior in other cryptography protocols, such as in Secure Multi-Party Computation (MPC). The NIST PEC project is accompanying ZKP developments and initiatives toward future useful standards.
ZKP in the NIST Threshold Call:
The Category S6 of the NIST First Call for Multi-Party Threshold Schemes (NISTIR 8214C) calls for submission of zero-knowledge proofs of knowledge (ZKPoK). The Threshold Call encourages the community of experts to participate in the process, by submitting ZKPoK schemes, and/or subsequently supporting their public analysis.
Some ZKP-related talks hosted by NIST, by external speakers:
- At MPTS and WPEC workshops:
- In the Special Topics of Privacy and Public Auditability (STPPA) series:
- NIST Crypto Reading Club talks related to ZKPs (not necessarily associated with ZKProof):
NIST-PEC collaboration with ZKProof:
NIST has collaborated with the ZKProof initiative between 2019 and 2024, as a way of supporting the development of open reference material on zero-knowledge proofs. This page lists outputs of that past interaction:
Past ZKProof-related talks by PEC members:
(Some talks were jointly presented with other ZKProof Editors)
ZKProof Reference Material (Selected links):
