Generic constructions of secure-channel free searchable encryption with adaptive security

For searching keywords against encrypted data, public key encryption scheme with keyword search (PEKS), and its extension secure-channel free PEKS (SCF-PEKS), has been proposed. In this paper, we extend the security of SCF-PEKS, calling it adaptive SCF-PEKS, wherein an adversary (modeled as a malicious-but-legitimate receiver) is allowed to issue test queries adaptively. We show that adaptive SCF-PEKS can be generically constructed by anonymous identity-based encryption only. That is, SCF-PEKS can be constructed without any additional cryptographic primitive when compared with the Abdalla et al. PEKS construction (J. Cryptology 2008), even though adaptive SCF-PEKS requires additional functionalities. We also propose other adaptive SCF-PEKS construction, which is not fully generic but is efficient compared with the first one. Finally, we instantiate an adaptive SCF-PEKS scheme (via our second construction) that achieves a similar level of efficiency for the costs of the test procedure and encryption, compared with the (non-adaptive secure) SCF-PEKS scheme by Fang et al. (CANS2009). Copyright (c) 2014John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.