Threshold secret share generation for distributed symmetric cryptography

Abstract

Methods and systems for securely generating secret shares in a distributed manner and distributing those secret shares to cryptographic devices are disclosed. The cryptographic devices can subsequently use these secret shares to perform threshold distributed cryptographic operations (such as encryption or decryption). A threshold number of generating cryptographic devices can each generate their own secret shares. These devices can also each generate partial secret shares that can be combined by receiving cryptographic devices to generate their own respective secret shares. Additionally, the generating devices can generate commitments corresponding to their secret shares. The generating devices can transmit the commitments to the other cryptographic devices and the partial secret shares to their corresponding receiving devices. At a later time, cryptographic devices possessing at least a threshold number of secret shares can collectively perform cryptographic operations using those secret shares.