All Questions

21 views

How is a public key actually used to encrypt something?

One thing cryptography articles never seem to explain is how the message actually gets encrypted. You get this long-winded lecture on number theory which ends with, Ta Da! and we have a public and ...
17 views

Are RSA or ECC vulnerable to an attack where the same (unknown) plaintext is encrypted with multiple public keys?

I'm not sure what this attack model is called - it's not known-plaintext and also not quite cipher-text-only. It is similar to this question except the general case (not just two keys) and using keys ...
17 views

Do any one-key-of-many cryptographic schemes exist?

I'm pretty sure I understand how public/private key cryptography works. Anybody can encrypt a message using a well-known public key, but only the person who holds the private key can decrypt it. My ...
12 views

Linear Cryptanalysis - possible without plaintext?

If Linear Cryptanalysis exploits the fact that the plaintext and ciphertext are not completely unrelated, is the attack possible without having access to the plaintext?
17 views

Semantic Security Active or Passive attacks?

I'm reading A Practical Public Key Cryptosystem Provably Secure against Adaptive Chosen Ciphertext Attack and here define Semantic Security ... Semantic security, dened by Goldwasser and Micali ...
26 views

How to best mix two arbitrary/random n-bit words?

Given two arbitrary/random $n$-bit words, how could one best mix them to get one $n$-bit word for general crypto usages? I suppose that one should have an adequate measure of goodness of the mix ...
20 views

What is the “purpose” byte in Crypto++ PBKDF2?

Does anyone know the purpose of the "purpose" byte in the PBKDF2 implementation in Crypto++? It appears that the PBKDF2 does not use this byte, but I want to make sure I am not setting the option to ...
32 views

Anyone know what this is? [on hold]

Found this, apparently wherever this image pops out, sites get downed and names get banned. It's definitely not just some random thing made to provoke intrigue because I've seen this before but ...
23 views

Timing attacks against RSA, DH and AES

I have been reading about “Timing Attacks on RSA: Revealing Your Secrets through the Fourth Dimension” by Wing H. Wong. I was wondering if this attack is feasible while signing with RSA and, if yes, ...
17 views

Is there a flaw in whole disk encryption vs volume or folder encryption? [duplicate]

My company just implemented whole disk encryption on all laptops (Symantec) and the concept seems flawed. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but if I have known file in plain text and that same file in ...
45 views

Is this an acceptable implementation of ARC4 encryption for my system?

I am building an open source hardware system that will be used to control things over the internet. The system consists of a Base Station and Modules which use wireless communication at 2.4GHz to ...
60 views

Private set intersection, using a semi-trusted server

Alice has a set $S$ of words. Bob has a set $T$ of words. They want to compute the intersection $S \cap T$ of their words, with the help of a semi-trusted third party Trent. Trent runs a central ...
90 views

I need a 64-bit cryptographic hash for 96 bits of data

I have a situation in which I need to combine a 32-bit datum, G, and a 64-bit datum, I, to produce a 64-bit datum. No two ...
37 views

Rainbow tables and blowfish

I'm thinking of implementing rainbow tables for a specific blowfish problem, but I have trouble thinking of the proper way to apply the original paper (and its application to hash functions) to ...
34 views

Sane implementations of Bitcoin cryptography routines w.r.t. side-channel attacks

Bitcoin uses SHA-256, Base58Check, ECDSA (Sep256k1) and RIPEMD-160 as the basis of its encryption (see this article for a short guide on how addresses are created). I would like to create an ...
56 views

What is the best way to share a shared secret key over HTTPS to be used for HMAC authentication?

I am writing an application in Java that will be using SHA-1 HMAC message authentication. From what I understand, a connection over HTTPS is considered secure enough to share a secret key in plain ...
40 views

I'm looking to do some research into how RSA is used in the wild. I've read through a few papers and it seems other researchers have had no trouble collecting millions of keys to perform analysis on. ...
83 views

cryptographically good random elliptic curves?

After an answer here, about generate elliptic curves, I've start thinking about the algorithm. The mentioned algorithm will produce curves in the Weierstraß Reduced Form (WRF) over finite fields: ...
60 views

What is the practical relevance of the wordsize when using a Hash?

I understand that the word size is the internal "working package size" below the block size of a cryptographic hash function (and a block cipher), as each block is broken into words an than processed ...
47 views

Data Storage in a Smart Card?

I have used smart cards with PKI certificates (even created them using a Magicard Printer). I also know that there is a way to put addtional info/data in a smart card - i.e. use it as data storage. ...
27 views

Parallel-resistant proof-of-work scheme without hidden knowledge

Follow-up to: Parallel-resistant proof-of-work scheme? Is there a proof-of-work scheme that: can only be solved serially; given the solution, can be verified in minimal time; builds the problem ...
39 views

Why the same characteristics cannot be used to recover all FEAL4 keys

I am trying to understand how differential Cryptanalysis works. Here I read how to use differential cryptoanalysis for cracking FEAL4 cipher. The big gotcha with this process is that you cannot ...
72 views

Understanding multiplication in the AES specification

I am reading through the AES specification and am not able to wrap my head around the multiplication definition (section 4.2). Sorry to refer to a spec but AES is the holy grail in crypto so I hope ...
93 views

Breaking Double Encryption

I am trying to understand how an attacker knows when he has successfully decrypted a ciphertext for an assignment. As such, some pointers/hints for the following questions would be greatly ...
45 views

Using a hash with a constant key to create easily verifiable codes

I'll keep my question short. If I keep handing out different codes generated by this function, will it be trivial to figure out the secret key? ...
58 views

Suppose I have a password made of n alphabetic characters. An attacker is given the hashed password and will attempt a brute force attack on cracking it. I can ...
60 views

Entropy test for AES Key Schedule

According to the article "Lest We Remember: Cold Boot Attacks on Encryption Keys" there is a quick and dirty entropy test that can help to find possible AES Key Schedules in memory dumps. Although ...
62 views

Finding an x such that xP = (11,44) on an elliptic curve

Given the elliptic curve $$E:y^2 = x^3+17x+5 \mod 59$$ with point $P = (4,14)$, how do I find $x$ such that compute $x\cdot P = (11,44)$ Is there a mathematical method to compute $x$, or do I ...
80 views

Why Victor must not know which tunnel Peggy chooses?

In the classic description of Zero Knowledge Proof of Knowledge, Victor must wait outside the entrance to the cave while Peggy goes to the fork and choose a side. It's only once Peggy has entered a ...
52 views

how do I learn cryptography, and where? [on hold]

I want to learn cryptography, but I don't know how to go about it. I have tried asking around, but i still have no idea as to where it is taught. Any help?
107 views

Is $H(x) = x^2 \bmod p$ pre-image resistant, second pre-image resistant and/or collision resistant

I have the function $H(x) = x^2\bmod p$ , where $p$ is a prime of length n bits and this function maps to the message $x$ to a n-bit hash value $H(x)$. I need to find out if it is pre-image ...
24 views

Is ecryptfs safe after unmounting but before turning off the computer

I've read that one of the vulnerabilites of ecryptfs is leaks to swap memory, and that the solution is to encrypt swap. But even if swap is encrypted, it's still open until I reboot. I've also read in ...
124 views

Given p and q of DSA how do you show they are prime?

I am given p = 4916335901 q = 88903 and am asked to show these are prime as well as q|(p-1) in DSA. I am unsure on how to ...
52 views

Reseeding a PRNG with the generated PRN

Would reseeding a PRNG with the PRN from the previous generation have any effects whatsoever on the quality of the generated numbers; if so, does this depend on the PRNG used, or are the effects ...
65 views

Attack of an RSA signature scheme using PKCS#1 v1.5 encryption padding

My best interpretation of this question is that Java's crypto API has been subverted to perform RSA signature using PKCS#1 v1.5 encryption padding. Assume the signature $S$ of a message $M$ is ...
30 views

Number of possible keys in a Play fair cipher [duplicate]

So for the play fair case, the number of possible keys is : 26x26 = 676 possible keys But if we consider the repeated letters, how many unique keys will the play fair have? I mean how will ...
63 views

Right usage of PBKDF2 and login system questions

I'm developing the login part of my application and I was asking myself how to do it right. My application stores some users' data server-side that must be inaccessible from us, so all the content ...
34 views

SHA-256 Partial Collision of initial 36 bits and more

I was lucky enough to, by brute force, have found two different messages, whose SHA-256 hashes collide in the first 9 hexadecimal characters, which are 36 bits, ...
30 views

Applications for stream and block ciphers

I'm taking a computer security/crypto intro class and I have two questions which I just don't know the answers to. I've been researching but haven't found what I'm looking for. Our class book doesn't ...
28 views

Hill cipher cryptanalysis - known plaintext known key size

Hello I want to know how to go about this problem I know the plaintext "abcdef" and the ciphertext. The key size is 2. I really can't figure out how to find the key for decrypting and encrypting.
35 views

Adding “salt” to “doHash” function in Java [on hold]

For one of my university projects I am being asked to "Improve the code to satisfy the pre-image resistance requirement." Basically the program is a basic encryption server system, and when I type a ...
102 views

64 bit Elliptic Curve key?

For a simple proof of concept project i'm (attempting!) to do, i've started looking into openSSL elliptic curve cryptography. However instead of the standard key lengths, 160-512. I'm interested in ...
53 views

Does “use of SHA-256 in cryptography” imply use of SHA-256 both in HMAC and DH key exchange, assuming these are the only uses of hash in system? [on hold]

I am beginner to Cryptography. And recently I came across the requirement like "use of SHA-256 in cryptography". Does "use of SHA-256 in cryptography" imply use of SHA-256 both in HMAC and DH key ...
47 views

Weil pairing implementation - low level programming language

I'm just started to studying elliptic curve cryptosystems. My one month-goal is to write a simple signature system based on the Weil-pairing. Some parts of it can be written without deeper ...
292 views
+500

Is this Pseudo Random Function (PRF): F(k,x) = f(k,x) - f(k,x-1)

I have a question about Pseudo Random Functions. Let $f:\{0,1\}^n×\{0,1\}^n → \{0,1\}^n$ be a secure PRF. Define $F\big(k,x\big) = \Big(f\big(k,x\big) - f\big(k,(x-1)\bmod2^{n}\big)\Big)\bmod2^{n}$. ...
31 views

Why should a signature use PSS padding in RSA?

Suppose I send a message using AES (private keys already negotiated securely) and I send a hash of this message using RSA (encrypted with private key) with OAEP to verify the authenticity and ...
53 views

Will non-ECC algorithms like RSA eventually become too inefficient?

The strength of symmetric and asymmetric encryption schemes scales with the key length, but there is a difference between symmetric algorithms like AES and asymmetric algorithms like RSA. For ...
32 views

difference between algorithms like Blowfish and AES 256bit comparisons between them? difference in efficiency between different encryption methods? [closed]

i am doing a project about encryption, and it would be awsome if i got some help with theese questions. What difference is there between encryption algorithms like Blowfish and AES 256bit and what are ...