Confidential and authenticated communication is an elementary necessity in open networks such as the internet and has already been put into place. However, in recent years internet users have become increasingly aware of one more criteria of security: privacy.
This need has become particularly obvious in the most popular service of the internet namely the World Wide Web (WWW). There, users wish to anonymously access web pages and, while browsing, leave as little information behind as possible. Therefore, it is quite legitimate and understandable that, with respect to multilateral security, web page providers also want to offer these pages in the same way.
At first glance, these premises of confidence, authenticity, and anonymity seem to be very contradictory. How can mutually anonymous partners contact each other and exchange authenticated keys to securely communicate with each other?
Research was carried out in the areas of