Identity-based threshold signature and mediated proxy signature schemes

Proxy signature schemes allow an original signer to delegate his signing rights to a proxy signer. However, many proxy signature schemes have the defect which is the inability to solve the proxy revocation problem. In this article, we firstly propose an identity-based threshold signature scheme and show that it has the properties of unforgeability and robustness. In our threshold signature scheme, we adopt such a method that the private key associated with an identity rather than the master key is shared. Then, based on the threshold signature scheme, an identity-based mediated proxy signature scheme is proposed where a security mediator (SEM) is introduced to help a proxy signer to generate valid proxy signatures, examine whether a proxy signer signs according to the warrant, and check the revocation of a proxy signer. It is shown that the proposed scheme satisfies all the security requirements of a secure proxy signature. Moreover, a proxy signer must cooperate with the SEM to generate a valid proxy signature, which makes the new scheme have an effective and fast proxy revocation.