Efficient attributes for anonymous credentials

We extend the Camenisch-Lysyanskaya anonymous credential system such that selective disclosure of attributes becomes highly efficient. The resulting system significantly improves upon existing approaches, which suffer from a linear number of modular exponentiations in the total number of attributes. This limitation makes them unfit for many practical applications, such as electronic identity cards. Our novel approach can incorporate a large number of binary and finite-set attributes without significant performance impact. It compresses all such attributes into a single attribute base and, thus, boosts the efficiency of all proofs of possession. The core idea is to encode discrete binary and finite-set values as prime numbers. We then use the divisibility property for efficient proofs of their presence or absence. In addition, we contribute efficient methods for conjunctions and disjunctions. The system builds on the strong RSA assumption. We demonstrate the aptness of our method in realistic application scenarios, notably electronic identity cards, and show its advantages for small devices, such as smartcards and cell phones. © 2012 ACM 1094-9224/2012/03-ART4 $10.00.