Sui's Fastcrypto Library Sets New Speed Records in Cryptography

Sui's Fastcrypto cryptography library has achieved significant milestones by setting new speed records, according to a recent paper presented at the International Conference on Performance Engineering (ICPE) 2024 in London. The paper, titled Fastcrypto: Pioneering Cryptography Via Continuous Benchmarking, highlights the library's superior performance through systematic and continuous benchmarking.

Benchmarking and Performance

The Fastcrypto library, integral to the Sui blockchain, has undergone rigorous benchmarking and security analysis, leading to the identification and resolution of several security vulnerabilities. The continuous testing approach has also enabled the discovery of optimization techniques that have further enhanced the library's performance.

The benchmarking results, which are continuously updated and made publicly available, have facilitated more informed decision-making in the development of Fastcrypto and Sui. This systematic approach has influenced choices regarding dependencies, usage, and the allocation of developer resources.

Conference Highlights

At the ICPE 2024 conference, the presentation on Fastcrypto was part of a session titled “Innovations in Performance Testing: Strategies and Technologies.” The event attracted participants from both academia and industry, including representatives from MongoDB and Amazon.

The presentation underscored the importance of benchmarking cryptographic functions such as digital signatures, hash functions, and zero-knowledge proofs. It also discussed the continuous benchmarking of these functions upon release and on-demand, with results published online for easy comparison and historical performance tracking.

Case Study: Signature Schemes

A notable case study from the paper focused on selecting a signature scheme for validators in the Sui blockchain. To submit a transaction, a user must obtain signatures from a quorum of validators. With approximately 100 validators, a quorum consists of 67 validators, each needing to verify 67 signatures per transaction.

The study compared the BLS and EdDSA signature schemes, revealing that the BLS scheme, despite its slower individual signature verification, is more efficient for Sui's needs. The break-even point between the two schemes was identified as 40 to 45 signatures, making BLS the preferred choice for the Sui blockchain.

Security Insights

The presentation also highlighted how benchmarking can uncover unexpected software behaviors. For instance, some libraries implementing the EdDSA signature scheme exhibited unusually fast performance by assuming the public key should be cached and provided as input. This assumption could lead to vulnerabilities, such as the extraction of the private key if an incorrect public key is provided.

This issue was detected through benchmarking, which showed that while faster performance is often desirable, unexpected speed increases can indicate potential security flaws. This insight emphasizes the importance of thorough benchmarking in ensuring the security and reliability of cryptographic libraries.

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