Generalizing Zero-Knowledge Proofs for Streaming Data with Robust Security ∞ Research

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Briefing

This paper presents a foundational advancement in zero-knowledge streaming interactive proofs (zkSIPs), proposing novel protocols that offer significantly enhanced generality and security for verifying computations on continuously flowing data. It addresses the critical vulnerability of prior zkSIP constructions, which suffered from an inverse polylogarithmic simulation error, rendering them insecure for repeated applications. The new protocols achieve a negligible zero-knowledge error, establishing a robust standard for privacy-preserving verification within space-constrained, read-once data environments, thereby securing the integrity of streaming data in decentralized systems.

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Context

The established challenge in streaming interactive proofs involves enabling a space-bounded verifier to confirm complex computations on massive, one-pass data streams without the capacity to store the entire input. Previous work introduced zero-knowledge streaming interactive proofs, but these early constructions possessed a significant theoretical limitation ∞ an inverse polylogarithmic simulation error. This inherent weakness meant such protocols were fundamentally insecure if executed multiple times, creating a critical gap in robust, privacy-preserving verification for dynamic data flows.

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Analysis

The core innovation lies in developing a new class of zkSIP protocols. These protocols enable a prover to convince a streaming verifier of a statement’s truth, pertaining to an input stream, without revealing any information beyond the statement’s validity. A key breakthrough is the creation of a general-purpose zkSIP for any NP relation decidable by low-depth polynomial-size circuits. This generalizes prior specific constructions and significantly strengthens the zero-knowledge guarantee by achieving a negligible simulation error, ensuring that even a bounded-space malicious verifier learns nothing beyond the stated fact, even across multiple interactions.

Core Concept ∞ Zero-Knowledge Streaming Interactive Proofs (zkSIPs)
New Mechanism ∞ General-purpose zkSIP for NP relations
Security Guarantee ∞ Negligible Zero-Knowledge Error
Problem Class Addressed ∞ NP relations decidable by low-depth polynomial-size circuits
Key Authors ∞ Tomer Gewirtzman, Ron Rothblum
Publication Venue ∞ CRYPTO 2025 (IACR)

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Outlook

This research opens new avenues for privacy-preserving computation in real-time data environments, from secure IoT networks to on-chain analytics where verifiers have limited memory. The development of general-purpose zkSIPs with negligible error provides a foundational primitive for designing truly scalable and private decentralized applications that process continuous data streams. Future work will likely explore practical implementations and optimizations, translating these theoretical guarantees into deployable systems that unlock novel capabilities for verifiable, private data processing at scale.

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Verdict

This research fundamentally strengthens the cryptographic underpinnings for privacy-preserving computation on streaming data, providing a critical building block for secure, scalable decentralized architectures.

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