# All Questions

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### What is the correct value for “certainty” in RSA key pair generation?

I'm creating an RSA key pair in Bouncy Castle and need to specify an int value for certainty. This Stack Overflow answer says it is a relative test for how prime the values are. There is another ...
1k views

### Deciphering a key from XOR encrypted cypher using boolean logic

Assume there's an unencrypted message A, and an encrypted message B. You know that message B was encrypted using a simple XOR method of A with a private key K, resulting in message B. Thus, B = A ⊕ K ...
160 views

### How are state wiretaps obtaining plaintext from encrypted transmissions?

According to the US 2011 Wiretap Report, encryption — on the off chance that it is encountered — has been no hurdle to retrieving the content of a conversation. Public Law 106-197 amended 18 ...
225 views

### Is there a known vulnerability when using identical key and salt with PBKDF2?

For optimum security, a random salt should be chosen for PBKDF2. I came across a scenario where I produce a hash of a random file that serves as the "password". Due to the nature of files, this has ...
738 views

### Generating a strong unique Initialization Vector

How can I determine if I am generating a unique and strong Initialization Vector? If my mode is generating Keystream? Is there any scientific explanation in generating a unique and strong ...
137 views

### Why does it matter for a signature scheme to be without random oracles?

There is a profusion of articles proposing signature schemes without random oracles (see for yourself). What does that mean, and why does it matter?
612 views

### Using bad generator in ElGamal Encryption

Suppose Alice chooses a random Prime $p$ and a random private Key $a \in \mathbb{Z}^*_p$. By accident, she also chooses a random number $g \in \mathbb{Z}^*_p$, which is not a generator of ...
233 views

### Chaum undeniable signature - justification for probability of misleading the verifier?

Can anyone explain me in details why does the following statement hold true in Chaum and van Antwerpen scheme for undeniable signature? The probability that a dishonest signer is able to ...
736 views

### Capacity of Advanced Encryption Standard in terms of File Encryption

what is the capacity of AES in terms of File Encryption? is it really good to encrypt a large files in AES? ex. I am encrypting a 8GB of File... is it still good to used AES? is it still good to used ...
177 views

### Is there a way to compare the 923 bit pairing based key with RSA or AES, etc

I've see many articles, most of them basically the same, praising Fujitsu for cracking what is referred to as a 923 bit pairing based encryption. I understand that in comparing RSA to AES you've got ...
237 views

### Algorithm to securely exchange identities

Say four people each have a public/private key pair that they can use to encrypt or sign messages. They have an anonymous way to post messages such that the others can see them. Malicious entities can ...
471 views

### Expectation Value of the Index of Coincidence

Can Anybody tell me why the expectation value of the Index of Coincidence is the following? For a cipher text string of length $L$, where $n$ is the number of alphabet characters, $k_r = 1/n$, and ...
187 views

### What is the advantage of an attacker over breaking a 4 digits PIN?

When a hardware system is protected by a 4 digits password, what is the advantage of the attacker into breaking that system? Isn't it $10*10*10*10=10^{4}$? If $\frac{1}{10^{4}}$ is the cost of such ...
337 views

### How much bigger does a precomputed lookup table get when salt is added?

I am trying to wrap my head around the benefits of salt in cryptography. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_(cryptography) I understand that adding salt makes it harder to precompute a table. But ...
6k views

### How much computing resource is required to brute-force RSA?

It's been over 30 years since Rivest, Shamir and Adleman first publicly described their algorithm for public-key cryptography; and the intelligence community is thought to have known about it for ...
467 views

### bcrypt - collision-resistance against chosen salt and work factor?

Would it be difficult to find $\:$ cost,salt,input,password0,password1 $\:$ such that bcrypt(cost,salt,password0,input) = bcrypt(workfactor,salt,password1,input) and $\:$ password0 != password1 $\:$ ...
702 views

### Getting started [closed]

I'm looking for a good place to start in cryptography and places to go to get free books etc on the topic. I have been looking online but I always get stuck at some point or another. I need something ...
5k views

### How does the index of coincidence work in the Kasiki test?

I'm starting to learn about cryptanalysis and I am having a bit of difficulty understanding the Kasiski test's index of coincidence. I have a book (Cryptography Theory And Practice by Douglas Stinson) ...
153 views

### Does it make sense to use slow hashes in digital signatures?

For storing passwords, it seems that the use of intentionally slow hash functions (like PBKDF2 and bcrypt) is now recommended. This is because most hashes are designed to be fast, which also makes ...
170 views

### Byte location of plaintext vs ciphertext when using a block cipher or stream cipher

I know that when you use a stream cipher you are just XOR'ing the plain text with the PRNG stream, such that you know if a specific byte is in position 3 of the plain text it will still be in ...
2k views

### What do the magic numbers 0x5c and 0x36 in the opad/ipad calc in HMAC do?

Wikipedia lists the following pseudocode for HMAC: ...
2k views

### Use of nonces in Kerberos and Needham–Schroeder protocols

Can you please explain me what is the reason of using nonces in the Needham-Schroeder and in the Kerberos protocols for Key Transport. In particular : Can you explain me the use of $N_A$? And ...
436 views

### How can I solve the discrete logarithm modulo 2q+1 if I can solve it in the subgroup of order q?

As part of my cryptography course I came across an exercise that neither me or my friends could figure out. The problem statement is as follows: Let $p$ be a large prime of the form $p = 2q + 1$ ...
425 views

### How can I find two strings $m_1$ and $m_2$, knowing that I know $m_1 \oplus m_2$? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How does one attack a two-time pad (i.e. one time pad with key reuse)? I recently started to follow the cryptography class of Dan Boneh on coursera.org and the first ...
1k views

### Why must IV/key-pairs not be reused in CTR mode?

Many sources mention that IVs must not be reused with the same key in CTR mode, for encrypting 2 different pieces of data, because that totally destroys security - but I haven't found an explanation ...
243 views

### Regarding matsui's Paper on Linear Cryptanalysis of DES

I's going throught the the Paper by Matsui on Linear Cryptanalysis of DES . In that he says $NS_{5}(16,15)=12$ And then in the next paragraph he says considering the expansion and permutation phases ...
515 views

### OpenPGP Public-Key Encrypted Session Key Packet Key ID generation

Im probably just not reading something again, but: RFC 4880 says that a OpenPGP Public-Key Encrypted Session Key Packet (tag 1) is made up of ...
286 views

### Is the “Signed on date” of a PGP Signature Verified?

I noticed that PGP signatures have a "signed on" field. I was wondering if this is "trustworthy" information and if so how is it accomplished. For example, I can't see how it could be trusted ...
513 views

### How exactly are GPG keys mathematically related, and prime numbers inside of GPG general

Before anyone suggest it, I've yet to pick up "Applied Cryptography" I'm planning on picking it up the next time I visit amazon. I know that the keys are somehow mathematically related, and I know ...
502 views

### Are there standards for transport layer security using only symmetric keys?

I have an embedded system with AES-128 implemented in hardware. There is very little flash/RAM and the (8-bit) CPU runs relatively slowly. Public key crypto isn't a viable option. This system is ...
465 views

### Is ECB mode secure if plaintexts guaranteed to be unique?

I've got a scenario where I need to encrypt many small (16-byte) plaintexts. I want to use AES-128 in ECB mode. Notably, each plaintext is guaranteed to be unique, though each may differ by only a few ...
191 views

### Are there any differences between PIR, oblivious transfer and differential privacy?

I am trying to make a taxonomy of different purposes of some cryptographic protocols. Generally speaking the purpose of PIR, oblivious transfer and differential privacy it sounds like being invented ...
259 views

### Does Identity-Based Encryption actually solve any problem?

Identity based encryption schemes [*] seem to have great potential in high-latency Delay-Tolerant and mobile, ad-hoc networks since they apparently seem to avoid the need for key negotiation and ...