Secure multi-party computation made simple

A simple approach to secure multi-party computation is presented. Unlike previous approaches, it is based on essentially no mathematical structure (like bivariate polynomials) or sophisticated sub-protocols (like zero-knowledge proofs). It naturally yields protocols secure for mixed (active and passive) corruption and general (as opposed to threshold) adversary structures, confirming the previous tight bounds in a simpler formulation and with simpler proofs. Due to their simplicity, the described protocols are well-suited for didactic purposes, which is a main goal of this paper.