Decidability of a Sound Set of Inference Rules for Computational Indistinguishability

Abstract

Computational indistinguishability is a key property in cryptography and verification of security protocols. Current tools for proving it rely on cryptographic game transformations. We follow Bana and Comon's approach, axiomatizing what an adversary cannot distinguish. We prove the decidability of a set of first-order axioms which are computationally sound, though incomplete, for protocols with a bounded number of sessions whose security is based on an IND-CCA_2 encryption scheme. Alternatively, our result can be viewed as the decidability of a family of cryptographic game transformations. Our proof relies on term rewriting and automated deduction techniques.