Syndrome decoding meets multiple instances

Abstract: The NP-hard problem of decoding random linear codes is crucial to both coding theory and cryptography. In particular, this problem underpins the security of many code based post-quantum cryptographic schemes. The state-of-art algorithms for solving this problem are the information syndrome decoding algorithm and its advanced variants. In this work, we consider syndrome decoding in the multiple instances setting. Two strategies are applied for different scenarios. The first strategy is to solve all instances with the aid of the precomputation technique. We adjust the current framework and distinguish the offline phase and online phase to reduce the amortized complexity. Further, we discuss the impact on the concrete security of some post-quantum schemes. The second strategy is to solve one out of many instances. Adapting the analysis for some earlier algorithm, we discuss the effectiveness of using advanced variants and confirm a related folklore conjecture.