DOI: 10.1145/359168.359176. How to share a secret

10.1145/359168.359176

Crossref journal-article

Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)

Communications of the ACM (320)

Abstract

In this paper we show how to divide data D into n pieces in such a way that D is easily reconstructable from any k pieces, but even complete knowledge of k - 1 pieces reveals absolutely no information about D . This technique enables the construction of robust key management schemes for cryptographic systems that can function securely and reliably even when misfortunes destroy half the pieces and security breaches expose all but one of the remaining pieces.

Bibliography

Shamir, A. (1979). How to share a secret. Communications of the ACM, 22(11), 612â613.

Authors 1

Adi Shamir (first)

References 5 Referenced 9,773

Aho , A. , Hopcroft , J. , and Ullman , J . The Design and Analysis of Computer AIgorithms . Addison-Wesley , Reading, Mass ., 1974 . Aho, A., Hopcroft, J., and Ullman, J. The Design and Analysis of Computer AIgorithms. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1974. / The Design and Analysis of Computer AIgorithms by Aho A. (1974)
Blakley , G.R. Safeguarding cryptographic keys . Proc. AFIPS 1979 NCC , Vol. 48 , Arlington, Va. , June 1979 , pp. 313 - 317 . Blakley, G.R. Safeguarding cryptographic keys. Proc. AFIPS 1979 NCC, Vol. 48, Arlington, Va., June 1979, pp. 313-317. / Proc. AFIPS 1979 NCC by Blakley G.R. (1979)
Knuth , D. The Art of Computer Programming , Vol. 2 : SeminumericalAlgorithms . Addison-Wesley , Reading, Mass ., 1969 . Knuth, D. The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 2: SeminumericalAlgorithms. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1969. / SeminumericalAlgorithms by Knuth D. (1969)
Liu , C.L. Introduction to Combinatorial Mathematics . McGraw- Hill , New York , 1968 . Liu, C.L. Introduction to Combinatorial Mathematics. McGraw- Hill, New York, 1968. / Introduction to Combinatorial Mathematics by Liu C.L. (1968)
10.1145/359340.359342

Dates

Type	When
Created	23 years, 1 month ago (July 27, 2002, 7:34 a.m.)
Deposited	2 months, 2 weeks ago (June 18, 2025, 6:48 p.m.)
Indexed	1 day, 17 hours ago (Sept. 4, 2025, 9:43 a.m.)
Issued	45 years, 10 months ago (Nov. 1, 1979)
Published	45 years, 10 months ago (Nov. 1, 1979)
Published Online	45 years, 10 months ago (Nov. 1, 1979)
Published Print	45 years, 10 months ago (Nov. 1, 1979)

Funders 0

None

BibTeX

@article{Shamir_1979, title={How to share a secret}, volume={22}, ISSN={1557-7317}, url={http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/359168.359176}, DOI={10.1145/359168.359176}, number={11}, journal={Communications of the ACM}, publisher={Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)}, author={Shamir, Adi}, year={1979}, month=nov, pages={612–613} }

JSON

{
  "indexed": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2025,
        9,
        4
      ]
    ],
    "date-time": "2025-09-04T13:43:35Z",
    "timestamp": 1756993415489,
    "version": "3.41.0"
  },
  "reference-count": 5,
  "publisher": "Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)",
  "issue": "11",
  "license": [
    {
      "start": {
        "date-parts": [
          [
            1979,
            11,
            1
          ]
        ],
        "date-time": "1979-11-01T00:00:00Z",
        "timestamp": 310262400000
      },
      "content-version": "vor",
      "delay-in-days": 0,
      "URL": "https://www.acm.org/publications/policies/copyright_policy#Background"
    }
  ],
  "content-domain": {
    "domain": [
      "dl.acm.org"
    ],
    "crossmark-restriction": true
  },
  "published-print": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        1979,
        11
      ]
    ]
  },
  "abstract": "<jats:p>\n            In this paper we show how to divide data\n            <jats:italic>D</jats:italic>\n            into\n            <jats:italic>n</jats:italic>\n            pieces in such a way that\n            <jats:italic>D</jats:italic>\n            is easily reconstructable from any\n            <jats:italic>k</jats:italic>\n            pieces, but even complete knowledge of\n            <jats:italic>k</jats:italic>\n            - 1 pieces reveals absolutely no information about\n            <jats:italic>D</jats:italic>\n            . This technique enables the construction of robust key management schemes for cryptographic systems that can function securely and reliably even when misfortunes destroy half the pieces and security breaches expose all but one of the remaining pieces.\n          </jats:p>",
  "DOI": "10.1145/359168.359176",
  "type": "journal-article",
  "created": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2002,
        7,
        27
      ]
    ],
    "date-time": "2002-07-27T11:34:59Z",
    "timestamp": 1027769699000
  },
  "page": "612-613",
  "update-policy": "https://doi.org/10.1145/crossmark-policy",
  "source": "Crossref",
  "is-referenced-by-count": 9773,
  "title": "How to share a secret",
  "prefix": "10.1145",
  "volume": "22",
  "author": [
    {
      "given": "Adi",
      "family": "Shamir",
      "sequence": "first",
      "affiliation": [
        {
          "name": "Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "member": "320",
  "published-online": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        1979,
        11
      ]
    ]
  },
  "reference": [
    {
      "key": "e_1_2_1_1_2",
      "volume-title": "The Design and Analysis of Computer AIgorithms",
      "author": "Aho A.",
      "year": "1974",
      "unstructured": "Aho , A. , Hopcroft , J. , and Ullman , J . The Design and Analysis of Computer AIgorithms . Addison-Wesley , Reading, Mass ., 1974 . Aho, A., Hopcroft, J., and Ullman, J. The Design and Analysis of Computer AIgorithms. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1974."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_2_1_2_2",
      "first-page": "313",
      "volume-title": "Proc. AFIPS 1979 NCC",
      "volume": "48",
      "author": "Blakley G.R.",
      "year": "1979",
      "unstructured": "Blakley , G.R. Safeguarding cryptographic keys . Proc. AFIPS 1979 NCC , Vol. 48 , Arlington, Va. , June 1979 , pp. 313 - 317 . Blakley, G.R. Safeguarding cryptographic keys. Proc. AFIPS 1979 NCC, Vol. 48, Arlington, Va., June 1979, pp. 313-317."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_2_1_3_2",
      "volume-title": "SeminumericalAlgorithms",
      "author": "Knuth D.",
      "year": "1969",
      "unstructured": "Knuth , D. The Art of Computer Programming , Vol. 2 : SeminumericalAlgorithms . Addison-Wesley , Reading, Mass ., 1969 . Knuth, D. The Art of Computer Programming, Vol. 2: SeminumericalAlgorithms. Addison-Wesley, Reading, Mass., 1969."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_2_1_4_2",
      "volume-title": "Introduction to Combinatorial Mathematics",
      "author": "Liu C.L.",
      "year": "1968",
      "unstructured": "Liu , C.L. Introduction to Combinatorial Mathematics . McGraw- Hill , New York , 1968 . Liu, C.L. Introduction to Combinatorial Mathematics. McGraw- Hill, New York, 1968."
    },
    {
      "key": "e_1_2_1_5_2",
      "doi-asserted-by": "publisher",
      "DOI": "10.1145/359340.359342"
    }
  ],
  "container-title": "Communications of the ACM",
  "original-title": [],
  "language": "en",
  "link": [
    {
      "URL": "https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/359168.359176",
      "content-type": "unspecified",
      "content-version": "vor",
      "intended-application": "text-mining"
    },
    {
      "URL": "https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/359168.359176",
      "content-type": "unspecified",
      "content-version": "vor",
      "intended-application": "similarity-checking"
    }
  ],
  "deposited": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        2025,
        6,
        18
      ]
    ],
    "date-time": "2025-06-18T22:48:48Z",
    "timestamp": 1750286928000
  },
  "score": 1,
  "resource": {
    "primary": {
      "URL": "https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/359168.359176"
    }
  },
  "subtitle": [],
  "short-title": [],
  "issued": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        1979,
        11
      ]
    ]
  },
  "references-count": 5,
  "journal-issue": {
    "issue": "11",
    "published-print": {
      "date-parts": [
        [
          1979,
          11
        ]
      ]
    }
  },
  "alternative-id": [
    "10.1145/359168.359176"
  ],
  "URL": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1145/359168.359176",
  "relation": {},
  "ISSN": [
    "0001-0782",
    "1557-7317"
  ],
  "subject": [],
  "container-title-short": "Commun. ACM",
  "published": {
    "date-parts": [
      [
        1979,
        11
      ]
    ]
  },
  "assertion": [
    {
      "value": "1979-11-01",
      "order": 2,
      "name": "published",
      "label": "Published",
      "group": {
        "name": "publication_history",
        "label": "Publication History"
      }
    }
  ]
}