In cryptography, a key derivation function (or KDF) derives one or more secret keys from a secret value such as a master key or other known information such as a password or passphrase using a pseudo-random function. Keyed cryptographic hash functions are popular examples of pseudo-random functions ...
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Deriving Keys for Symmetric Encryption and Authentication
So here's the concept. Rather than storing 2 keys and using a random IV, which presents its own problems (key rotation, ensuring no key is used in more than 2^32 cycles, sharing the keys, etc), is it ...
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Why does PBKDF2 xor the iterations of the hash function together?
The definition of PBKDF2 states that I obtain a derived key* by calling a pseudorandom function a bunch of times recursively:
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Which risks are associated with deriving multiple keys from the same DH secret Z?
NIST recommends Krawczyk's HMAC-based key derivation function (HKDF) in SP-800-56C (PDF). HKDF shall e.g. be used to create keys from shared secrets after Diffie Hellman key establishment.
NIST ...
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How can one securely generate an asymmetric key pair from a short passphrase?
Background info:
I am planning on making a filehost with which one can encrypt and upload files. To protect the data against any form of hacking, I'd like not to know the encryption key ($K$) used for ...
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4answers
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PBKDF2 and salt
I want to ask some questions about the PBKDF2 function and generally about the password-based derivation functions.
Actually we use the derivation function together with the salt to provide ...
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1answer
282 views
Compressing EC private keys
For reasonable security, EC private keys are typically 256-bits. Shorter EC private keys are not sufficiently secure. However, shorter symmetric keys (128-bits, for example) are comparably secure.
I ...
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1answer
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How to salt PBKDF2, when generating both an AES key and a HMAC key for Encrypt then MAC?
When using Encrypt-then-MAC with AES and HMAC by password, and given 128 bits of payload with the ciphertext to store a random salt, which would be more secure:
Using PBKDF2 with then entire 128 bit ...
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3answers
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Entropy of system data - use all and hash, or trim least significant bits?
I'm working on a background entropy collector for key generation that monitors hardware and produces an entropy pool.
Here's my list of sources:
Mouse position
Keyboard timings (i.e. time between ...
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1answer
108 views
Scrypt as a KDF with one-time high-entropy input
I'm looking at using Scrypt as a KDF. Assume the following:
the input will always be high-entropy random bytes generated by a CSPRNG
the length of the input can vary from between 8 to 32 bytes
the ...
