Efficient Authenticated Multi-Pattern Matching

Multi-pattern matching compares a large set of patterns against a given query string, which has wide application in various domains such as bio-informatics and intrusion detection. This paper shows how to authenticate the classic Aho-Corasick multi-pattern matching automation, without requiring the verifier to store the whole pattern set, nor downloading a proof for every single matching step. The storage complexity for the authentication metadata at the server side is the same as that of the unauthenticated version. The communication overhead is minimal since the proof size is linear in the query length and does not grow with the sizes of query result nor the pattern set. Our evaluation has shown that the query and verification times are practical.