All Questions

208 views

Deterministically combine more than one source of entropy

What is the proper/canonical way to do this? For example, $0 < r1 < 1$ and $0 < r2 < 1$. Presuming uniformly distributed probabilities for the two, combining/averaging them is going to ...
207 views

KCV and compatibility with block cipher modes of operation

There has been lately a question on KCV (key check value), value provided by many CRYPTOKI (PKCS#11) implementations. I don't particularly like KCV, but I decided to ask about proper use of KCV. ...
252 views

Is there a proof for showing any cryptogram is crackable?

I commonly hear statements along the lines of "all cryptograms are crackable - it's only a matter of time". Is there a proof to show that any cryptogram is "crackable"? The proof may be of a more ...
446 views

Where could I submit my algorithm?

I have come up with an encryption algorithm and I am looking for a place to possibly publish it. Any ideas?
2k views

How much stronger is RSA-2048 compared to RSA-1024?

How much stronger is RSA-2048 compared to RSA-1024? It is hard to imagine very big numbers. So what would be your way to explain the difference to someone who doesn't know much about cryptography?
130 views

How to generate a key using any m passwords out of total n?

My application requires an AES-256 key K for some secure operation. In order to avoid saving this key in application, I have implemented following scheme: There ...
690 views

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 ...
1k views

128 bit hash with least chance of collision

I'm building a storage system for JSON documents where they are looked up on a 128 bit key. These JSON documents have a timestamp within them, but apart from that are user-entered data. These JSON ...
618 views

How does a “Tiger Tree Hash” handle data whose size isn't a power of two?

Constructing a hash tree is simple enough if the data fits into a number of blocks that is a power of two. ...
672 views

Is it safer to generate your own Diffie-Hellman primes or to use those defined in RFC 3526?

I was wondering if the prime numbers defined for use with Diffie-Hellman in RFC 3526 are more trustworthy than generating one's own, especially considering the recent Arjen Lenstra paper (Ron was ...
367 views

Is there some way to generate a non-predictable random number in a decentralised network?

Is there a way to generate a random number with given restrictions: It will be used in a decentralised network with a big number of peers (no central authority to generate it) Its generation should ...
848 views

Example of CHI Square test on Caesar Cipher?

I am trying to get my head round the chi square test, when used with the Caesar cipher. I started off using this formula, $$X = \sum_{i = 1}^k \frac{f_i · f'_i}{n · n'}$$ Where ...
482 views

Random Coin Flip using ElGamal and a Trusted Party

An old exam question I am trying to figure out: Consider the following protocol for two parties to flip a fair coin. Trusted party T publishes her public key pk A chooses a random bit ...
559 views

If the PSK is known, is it possible to decrypt traffic from other clients in a WPA2 wlan network?

If in a public WLAN WPA2-PSK is used, but the PSK is more or less publicly available, does this mean that an attacker with that PSK can easily decrypt wlan traffic from/to other clients of that WLAN? ...
3k views

What are the details of the DES weakness of reusing the same IV in CBC mode with the same key?

I think I once faced the recommendation, that the initialization vector should always be random and never be used twice with the same key. How serious is this weakness? Also, is AES less effected ...
210 views

State of the art RSA key generation

I would like to know if there is an algorithm to generate a RSA key at the state of the art of the present cryptanalysis. Beside the key lenght I know there are some weakness in the choice of prime ...
106 views

149 views

Should HMAC or NMAC or plain Keccak be used for a secure MAC?

After some digging around in the HMAC spec I found this (paraphrased): Step 1: If the length of Key equals the block size of the hash function (512 bits/64 Bytes for SHA-256), set the key equal ...
163 views

Difference between lightweight, online and low memory Authenticated Encryption schemes

What is the basic difference between the following types of Authenticated Encryption (AE) schemes? Lightweight Authenticated encryption Online Authenticated Encryption Authenticated Encryption for ...
180 views

How can k3d3/ed25519-java's performance be improved?

I tried asking this on stackoverflow because I thought it might be a simple coding question and didn't want to clutter up this amazing stack, but I received no responses. CodesInChaos showed me that ...
738 views

In RSA, why is it important choosing e so that it is coprime to φ(n)?

When choosing the public exponent e, it is stressed that $e$ must be coprime to $\phi(n)$, i.e. $\gcd(\phi(n), e) = 1$. I know that a common choice is to have $e = 3$ (which requires a good padding ...
335 views

Elliptic Curve Encryption Ciphertext Size

I'd like to know how much bigger is the ciphertext when encrypting a message using ECC encrytpion? ECIES (or ElGamal)
171 views

Is there a cryptographic hash function that can be performed with pencil and paper?

Imagine I'm signing up for the 99th new web site this month. I somehow take my secret key (which I have written down on a card in my wallet) and the domain name of the site and feed them both into ...
232 views

Why is the discrete log problem easy when the exponent comes from a binomial distribution?

I read in http://epubs.surrey.ac.uk/7219/2/esorics06.pdf that in exponential El Gamal the discrete log problem for recovering $m$ from $g^m$ can be made tractable when $m$ is drawn from a binomial ...