# All Questions

1answer
170 views

### Practical usage of S/KEY

The One-Time-Password (OTP) topic became quite popular in the recent years. But unlike the well-known HOTP and TOTP standards I haven't heard about any applications/systems implementing and using the ...
1answer
211 views

### Is it necessary to use single hash function for signature generation and HMAC?

I am trying to figure out if we need to use single hash function across all the places in a ssh session. i.e – signature generation/verification and HMAC calculation/validation. Is it possible to use ...
1answer
762 views

### Hash functions with or without secret key

The classical definition of hash functions (found in books) are OK, but when studying a little more there is a lot of notions that seem ambiguous (contradictory) to me : Sometimes we have hash ...
1answer
212 views

### ElGamal with elliptic curves I

It is very interesting to see @tylo's answer on ElGamal with elliptic curves. Instead of mapping the message to the elliptic curve point it just reduces an elliptic curve point to its $x$ coodrinate. ...
1answer
266 views

### Homomorphic encryption for vector addition

Building on the question and answer from Addition-only PHE in F# which ponders homomorphic cryptosystems to navigate, relatively, a single dimension without revealing absolute position (an encrypted ...
1answer
191 views

### Question about SHA-2 (and potentially similar hashing algorithms)

I have been educating myself recently about the SHA-2 hashing algorithm, and in the midst of this pursuit, I've encountered a question: This algorithm uses a set of constant hexadecimal values, ...
1answer
324 views

### Using KDF output for password validation

I am currently revising an AES data format. I would like to determine whether a provided password/key is incorrect. Previously this was done by validating the HMAC, but this makes it impossible to ...
1answer
187 views

### Is Bitmessage a Mix network?

I've read the Bitmessage whitepaper and I found it rather lacking on the details, but it promises anonymous routing. Can it be considered a variation on mix-networks, where each peer acts as a ...
1answer
4k views

### What is the difference between SHA256WITHRSA and SHA256WITHRSAENCRYPTION digest algorithms?

I installed djigzo on my android phone and I want to use it for smime mail. I don't know the difference between choosing SHA256WITHRSA and ...
1answer
86 views

### Keyed-hash of a lot of small numbers

Let's say I have a list of several million numbers, with only 6-9 digits of secret information per number (this means that an attacker might efficiently guess the other digits). I have to store the ...
1answer
152 views

### Ephemeral Diffie-Hellman generator selection

I need to generate a EDH group on the fly in one has not been specified in a config file. Diffie-Hellman is kind of expensive in terms of computation, so I'd like to reduce the cost if possible. Is ...
1answer
911 views

### How Multiplication Table is generated for GF(2^2) field

I was unable to solve the multiplication table given in the book for $\mathrm{GF}(2^2)$.However, I have managed to solve the addition table. Acoording to the Book multiplication is the AND operation, ...
1answer
273 views

### Short length asymmetric encryption?

I want to send out short messages to the world which listeners could verify to be send from me. The way this is usually done is to encrypt the message with a private key where the readers decrypt it ...
1answer
2k views

### Is Curve25519-java secure?

I have only about 2 weeks of cryptography experience mostly in the form of questions on bitcoin.se. Is Curve25519-java up to date with current Curve25519 standards? Is Curve25519 itself secure? ...
1answer
126 views

### Usability of padding scheme in blinded RSA signature?

In Wikipedia's article on Blind signature, in the section Dangers of blind signing which describes RSA blinding attack one reads the following This attack works because in this blind signature ...
2answers
241 views

### How can A pass a message to B, while preventing a third party from sniffing infos?

$A$ has a message that he wants to send to $B$, without a third party being able to learn the contents of the original message. $A$ encrypts the message and sends it to a server. The server decrypts ...
2answers
239 views

### Can the passphrase of a PGP key be deduced from an old backup?

Let's assume that Bob, at some point in time, has created a PGP (key length and other parameters are not relevant at this point). For some reason, he has chosen a very poor passphrase, for instance ...
1answer
149 views

### With Encrypt-then-MAC, and flexible protocols, do I need to authenticate the authentication?

Sorry, the question is not easy to state (or wasn't for me, anyhow). So I'm writing a very flexible format for security. It allows for full choice of cipher, key size, and so on, along with key ...
1answer
241 views

### Elliptic Curve Verifiable Secret Sharing

I'm reading this paper, which on page 3(Section IV.C) presents a Jointly Random Verifiable Secret Sharing Scheme for Elliptic curves. The algorithm makes sense to me save for this part: "Each ...
2answers
712 views

### Graphically representing points on Elliptic Curve over finite field

I have taken elliptic curve $E\colon y^2=x^3-4x+20$, defined over $\mathbb{F}_{29}$. The number of points on the curve, $\left|E(\mathbb{F}_{29})\right|=37$. I took base point $P=(1,5)$, and got ...
1answer
274 views

### Reusing PGP key when generating SSL Certificate Authority?

Does it make sense to reuse some of the keys from my PGP (gnupg, gpg) keyblock when generating my own SSL Certificate Authority (a toy one for myself and a few web services of mine)? In an ideal ...
1answer
97 views

### How to pronounce RIPEMD 160?

Do I pronounce it as a word or do I make it sound like "R-I-P-E-M-D" like by pronouncing each individual letter.
1answer
511 views

### A key-derivation function that is as strong as the stronger of PBKDF2 and scrypt

I want a key stretching system that's as strong as the stronger of scrypt and PBKDF2. The consensus now is that scrypt is by far the better system, but that might change if in the future, a weakness ...
2answers
399 views

### Any real world implementation using message recovery?

During my master thesis I came across RSA-PSS-R which is in my opinion a quite elegant way of saving bandwidth and space using digital signature. But I didn't find any information about any real world ...
1answer
68 views

### Weaker Notion of Target Collision Resistance

I'm reading the paper “Collision-Resistant Hashing? Towards Making UOWHFs Practical” which states: While it might be easy to find a collision $M,M'$ in $F_K$ by making both $M,M'$ depend on $K$ ...
1answer
83 views

### Dependence on Keyed Hash Function

I'm reading the paper “Collision-Resistant Hashing? Towards Making UOWHFs Practical” which states: With an ACR hash function $F$ the key $K$ is announced and the adversary wins if she manages to ...
1answer
115 views

### secret sharing of product of 2 numbers

Does evaluating the products of shares $a_jb_j$ give a secret sharing of $ab$? I think it's a no, but I am not sure on how to prove it.
1answer
482 views

### openSSL ECDH private key size

When you are using a named curve like P-256 in openSSL, is there any standard key size for ECDH private key keys? If you look at the ec_key.c file in the openSSL ...
1answer
216 views

### Good Encryption Exponent

I have placed a bet that I can create a public key such that my adversary will not be able to crack (decrypt) it for at least one week. For my primes $p$ and $q$, I chose very large numbers that are ...
1answer
188 views

### How to design a cryptographically secure file hosting service

How one would go about design something like Google Drive/Dropbox providing the following features: files are encrypted and decrypted on the client files can be synced between devices the service ...
1answer
148 views

### Verifying encrypted addition

Alice has two secret numbers, a and b. She publishes c1=E(a), c2=E(b) and c3=E(a+b). Is there an encryption system E such that anyone would be able to prove that the c3 as published by Alice is ...
1answer
260 views

### How vulnerable is RSA when using it to encode ~1000s of datasets with 500bytes each? How easy can the private key passphrase be hacked?

I know that this is not the best use case for RSA, but for a customer of mine I have to encode user data on the server in a way so that it can be decoded/downloaded by the customer through a "secure" ...
1answer
282 views

### ID-based key exchange protocol with PFS

The traditional authenticated DH protocol with PFS against active adversaries, ensures that the compromise of both party's long-term private keys after the session is completed will not help the ...
1answer
111 views

### Verifying a Signature

Alice publishes $(n,e)$ where $n$ is exponential modulus and $e$ is the public key. We have $n=80$ digit number and $e=3$. Bob, in correspondence with Alice, asked Alice to prove she is really Alice, ...
1answer
488 views

### Prime number theorem - RSA

I am having trouble understanding the prime number theorem. As part of some revision for an exam, I am trying to answer the following questions (but seeing as I don't understand the concept of the ...
1answer
680 views

### Since it gives negative power, how is rcon(0) calculated in AES?

I'm trying to calculate Rijndael key schedule "Rcon" values manually. I know how to calculate each value with the equation ...
1answer
124 views

### Is this EAX extension weakening the (provable) security of EAX?

I would like to insert a key deriving function into EAX mode, in order to hamper brute-force attacks for a key-size restricted cipher (56 bits). The modification inserts an identical multi-block ...
2answers
190 views

### Where does the meaning of reduction to a hard problem lie?

Given you a protocol, if we can reduce breaking the protocol to a hard problem, such as DLP or CDH, then we can say that this protocol is secure. Theoretically speaking, reduction is a good method ...
1answer
417 views

### Is SHA-256 a one way permutation when restricting the domain to {0,1}^256? [duplicate]

Suppose we consider the space of $\lbrace 0,1 \rbrace^{256}$ as the domain and SHA-256 as our hash function. Does SHA-256 become a one way permutation? Has anyone tried to prove this? Or can it be ...
1answer
353 views

### Bandwidth and block size for Paillier cryptosystem

Can someone clarify what is meant by the terms cryptosystem bandwidth and block size for public key cryptosystems; The context is the Paillier cryptosystem and its Damgard-Jurik generalisation. My ...
1answer
477 views

### Is it safe to use GZIP to avoid padding related attacks

I am designing a library that supports encrypting some in-memory data using AES in CBC mode. Now I need a padding but it seemed to me that Apple's CommonCrypto library and OpenSSL have different ...
1answer
2k views

### Inverting the encryption equation of a symmetric cipher

I've just started a cryptography course. I am beginning to understand the concepts (I'm only in week 2) but I just can't get my head around the theories and principles when written as equations. I've ...
2answers
190 views

### Privately Sum Values without Dealers, MPC

Suppose $n$ actors each hold a plaintext $p_i$. We wish to find $\sum p_i$, without leaking any information about individual $p_i$. Any actor (or any link in the network) could be controlled by an ...
2answers
288 views

### Can you help me understand PFS and wPFS?

Every time I encounter the concepts of PFS (perfect forward secrecy) and wPFS (weak perfect forward secrecy), I feel uncertain about them. My understanding is that: PFS ensures that, if the ...
1answer
465 views

### Do companies like CipherCloud really have the option to use homomorphic encryption?

I was reading How is CipherCloud doing homomorphic encryption? and was wondering: Is there a technically feasible way for companies like CipherCloud to use homomorphic encryption (HE) while ...
1answer
201 views

### Can an encrypted nonce be used for authentication?

Would a scheme like the following work to allow authentication of a sender: A nonce is appended to data, and the result is encrypted. The encrypted pack is sent to the other party. The sender then ...
1answer
184 views

### a possibly stronger type of attack on identity-based encryption

What is known about the security of identity-based encryption schemes against attacks that involve seeing multiple ciphertexts and then receiving the private keys corresponding to some of those ...
1answer
946 views

### Digital Signature size requirement

What is an approximate length for a digital signature (SHA) given the following? Using RFID tags, size ranging from 100 to 2000 bytes (8000 bits), our project is setting aside a portion for a digital ...
1answer
480 views

### Primality testing (deterministic vs. non-deterministic)

I noticed that non-deterministic primality testing algorithms are more commonly used in practice while there is a deterministic algorithm e.g., AKS which runs in polynomial time? I am right? if so, ...
2answers
378 views

### plaintext and its encrypted version known [duplicate]

I have a (long) text in two versions, encrypted and plaintext. I think it was encrypted using a substitution cipher method (I'm pretty sure, indeed). I'm not good in this matter, I know little about ...

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