Entropy Loss is Maximal for Uniform Inputs

A secure sketch (defined by Dodis et al.) is an algorithm that on an input w produces an output s such that w can be reconstructed given its noisy version w' and s. Security is defined in terms of two parameters m and m˜ : if w comes from a distribution of entropy m, then a secure sketch guarantees that the distribution of w conditioned on s has entropy m˜ , where λ = m−m˜ is called the entropy loss. In this note we show that the entropy loss of any secure sketch (or, more generally, any randomized algorithm) on any distribution is no more than it is on the uniform distribution.

National Science Foundation (CCR-0311485, CCF-0515100, CNS-0546614, CNS-0202067)