All Questions

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Any historical accounts of cryptanalysis of Jefferson's wheel cipher?

David Kahn in his book "The Codebreakers" wrote about Jefferson's wheel cipher, saying that To this day the Navy uses it… (the book was first published in 1967) Are there any historical accounts ...
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Why is Diffie-Hellman considered in the context of public key cryptography?

In all textbooks I used the Diffie-Hellman key exchange is under "public key cryptography". As far as I can see it is a method to exchange a key to be used with a symmetric cryptographic algorithm, ...
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Attack XOR encryption of binary data compressed by zlib with known key length (very short key)

I am trying to break a packet format. The packet format simply packs several files into one big file. The file contents are plain. But the index data which contain offsets, file sizes and filenames ...
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Can the hash of one message be used to make it easier to find the hash of a very similar message?

Background: I am trying to get an understanding of using a hash of a passphrase as a secret. Example: ...
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Can we replace the XOR operation in DES with some other operation?

Can we replace the XOR operation in the DES algorithm with some other operation? If so, does it work for both encryption and decryption?
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ElGamal signature: Forging a signature of a specific form

I have a question I can't solve from one of the courses I'm currently taking: Show that given a legitimate ElGamal signature $(S,R)$ on a given message $m$, an attacker can compute a signature ...
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brute force attack on KDF vs KEY

if we believe 256bit keys are secure in AES against any brute force attack, is that possible we use a KDF (convert user's weak entered password in truecrypt into a fixed AES key) with too much round ...
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Name for identical operations for encryption and decryption

Is there a name for the property of a cryptographic algorithm that the operations for encryption and decryption are identical, i.e. $E_k(x) = D_k(x)$ and accordingly $E_k(E_k(x)) = x$? An example ...
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How to bring little changes in DES algorithm

I thought of implementing DES modes of operation as a project...But my guide asked to change or to modify the DES algorithm in such a way to overcome drawbacks of DES...So is there any way to do ...
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What are rounds in the context of ciphers?

Another recent question on security margin included in its answer the discussion of how many rounds are broken so far. What is the definition of a round?
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Request for 1024-bit primes $p$ , subgroup $q$ and subgroup generator $g$

I need to find a prime $p$ of $1024$ bits with a $160$ bit sub group size $q$, such that $q|p-1$ , and $g$ is the generator of the sub group size $q$. I'm looking for the numeric values of $p$ , $q$ ...
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Secure way to compare two secret numbers without disclosing them?

For example, two people want to know who is the older, without disclosing their age. Is there a secure way to do this without a third party involved?
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AES implementation in java that allows key of 320-bit length [closed]

I need an implementation of AES(Rijndael) in java that allows use of a 320-bit key. Please suggest a reliable implementation
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Hashing a password with SHA256 on the client then bcrypt on the server

I'm trying to implement a cryptographically secured storage site (not Mega, or anything similar) and am trying to prevent the user's password from ever touching the server. The password is used to ...
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What is 'security margin'?

I have been academic papers about Rijndael, Serpent, and Twofish, and there is this term that is vague to me. I cannot find a tangible definition in google. Can someone briefly define, describe, ...
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Obtaining a key that's using ice algorithm

I have a text file that has been processed by the SNOW steganography tool that uses ICE encryption. However, I do not know the key that would enable me to decrypt and retrieve the message hidden. ...
2k views

AES-CTR vulnerability to cryptographic oracle

I am new to cryptographic issues and from what I googled so far I could not retrieve the information I need. Consider the use of AES-128 in CTR mode. Let M be the set of possible plaintexts, for ...
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Tell me about non-MD5/SHA1 key fingerprints

I understand there are specifications for public-key fingerprints that use modern hash algorithms like SHA2. What are they?
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RSA primes vs. largest known primes

In the context of a new largest (mersenne) prime number being found this week - The largest known prime number is now 2^57,885,161 − 1, and it took 5 years to find ...
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What are alternatives to the random oracle model for modelling hash functions? [closed]

I was looking for more realistic alternatives to the ROM for describing hash functions in theoretical proofs. I came across the common reference string model (where hash functions can be modeled as ...
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Is such a crypto-system available?

$E(k_1, pt) = c_1, E(k_2, c_1) = c_2, D(k_{new}, c_2) = pt$, where $k_{new} = f(k_1, k_2).$ Sharing $k_{new}$ and $k_2$ should reveal no information about $k_1$. Clarifications: Being able to ...
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How to check the strength of an encryption algorithm?

I asking for advice on how to check strength of an encryption algorithm.
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What is RSA key normalization?

How can I understand the term RSA key normalization? What exactly is done in the process?? Please explain.
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Why does the recommended key size between symmetric and asymmetric encryption differ greatly?

In various articles it is mentioned that for secure communications, the recommended key sizes are 128-bit key size for symmetric encryption (which makes it $2^{128}$ possible keys?) and 2048-bit key ...
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How does padding in PMAC work? I have been told two stories: Firstly, I have been told that it works similar to CMAC padding, and secondly, I have been told that it does not need padding. I find the ...
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Source for examples with broken cryptography

I've heard again and again that many crypto systems have been broken in the past for one reason or another and that it is best to use one that has been peer reviewed, etc etc. However, I've yet to see ...
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Is there a problem with constructing a CSPRNG using MD5 or SHA1?

Is there any security concerns with building a CSPRNG using a broken hash function like MD5 or SHA1? The design is such that a CRC-like function is used for mixing entropy and MD5 is used as the ...
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What are some approaches to attack an triple key polyalphabetic cipher when the IV key and PT key are known?

The cipher is an triple key polyalphabetic cipher also known as an Quagmire IV by the ACA. An example would be here: Quagmire IV example and info (pardon the ads) I posses the IV key and the PT key. ...
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What is a tweakable block cipher?

Pretty simple question - but I can't seem to find much information about it. What exactly is a tweakable block cipher? How do they differ from traditional block ciphers? What is the 'tweak'? Is it ...
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Prevent/minimize replay attacks in public message board

Assume we have a public message board where anyone can send a message to. If plain messages are used, anyone can impersonate anyone. The goal is to disallow impersonations. We can use public key ...
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How to best obtain bit sequences from throwing normal dice?

Throwing normal dice, one can get sequences of digits in [0,5]. Which is the best procedure in practice to transform such sequences into bit sequences desired?
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Kryptos : K2. What is the origin of the “abscissa” keyword?

I'm studying the Kryptos sculpture with its cryptographic puzzles K1 to K4. Similar to the "palimsest" keyword for K1, the keyword "abscissa" for K2 was determined by brute-force. To better ...