In this paper we look in detail at the curves which arise in the method of Galbraith and Smart for producing curves in the Weil restriction of an elliptic curve over a finite field of characteristic 2 of composite degree. We explain how this method can be used to construct hyperelliptic cryptosystems which could be as secure as cryptosystems based on the original elliptic curve. On the other hand, we show that the same technique may provide a way of attacking the original elliptic curve cryptosystem using recent advances in the study of the discrete logarithm problem on hyperelliptic curves.
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