Abstract
Yao’s theorem gives an equivalence between the indistinguishability of a pseudo-random generator and the unpredictability of the next bit from an asymptotic point of view. In this paper we present with detailed proofs, modified versions of Yao’s theorem which can be of interest for the study of practical cryptographic primitives. In particular we consider non-asymptotic versions. We study the case of one pseudo-random generator, then the case of a family of pseudo-random generators with the same fixed length and finally we consider the asymptotic case. We compute in each case the cost of the reduction (in the sense of complexity theory) between the two algorithms.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Goldreich, O.: Modern Cryptography, Probabilistic Proofs and Pseudo-randomness. Algorithms and Combinatorics, Number 17. Springer (1999)
Goldreich, O.: The Foundations of Cryptography, vol. I. Cambridge University Press (2001)
Luby, M.: Pseudorandomness and Cryptographic Applications. Princeton University Press (1996)
Stinson, D.: Cryptography: Theory and Practice, 3rd edn. CRC Press (2005)
Yao, A.C.: Theory and applications of trapdoor functions. In: Proceedings of the 23rd IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science, pp. 80–91. IEEE Computer Society (1982)
Acknowledgements
We thank Marc Girault and the anonymous referees for their valuable remarks.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ballet, S., Rolland, R. A note on Yao’s theorem about pseudo-random generators. Cryptogr. Commun. 3, 189–206 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12095-011-0047-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12095-011-0047-1
Keywords
- Complexity
- Cryptography
- Distinguishable
- Prediction
- Pseudo-randomness
- Pseudo-random number generator
- Yao’s theorem