# All Questions

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### What is the appropriate public key encryption for secure coin flipping?

I quote Bobby's question here since I encountered the same one... Random Coin Flip using ElGamal and a Trusted Party Consider the following protocol for two parties to flip a fair coin. Trusted ...
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### How to generate a list of unique random strings?

How would you generate a list of distinct random strings, where all strings are alphanumeric and have a fixed length?
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### Is it a good idea to use bitwise XOR on a set of MD5 sums?

I have designed an SQL aggregate function in Oracle that bitwise XORs all MD5 sums of the values stored in a column. For example, if my table is: ...
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### Hash or encryption function for challenge-response protocol?

Say I have an authentication protocol where the shared secret is never transmitted. The server passes a challenge to the client and the client calculates a response using an algorithm where the ...
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### Software implementation of a commutative cipher?

I've got an application (detailed below) that calls for the use of a cipher that is commutative. I've been doing some googling & reading, and there are two algorithms that seem to get mentioned ...
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### Are there any specific requirements for the function $F$ in a Feistel cipher?

In a Feistel cipher (as shown below), it seems that the security of the cipher would be entirely dependent upon the function $F$. What requirements on $F$ are necessary for a secure Feistel cipher? Is ...
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### How to distribute session keys in public key cryptography?

In public key cryptography we can also use session keys which are symmetric. How do the sender (say a server) provides this session key information to its clients? If the sender (here server) ...
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### Why is MixColumns omitted from the last round of AES?

All rounds of AES (and Rijndael) have a MixColumns step, save the last round which omits it. DES has a similar feature where the last round differs slightly. The rationale, if I recall correctly, ...
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### Where is the proof of security of Diffie's cipher?

There is an apparently provably secure cipher that was proposed by Diffie, but enhanced by R.A. Rueppel. The scheme, which was mentioned in Applied Cryptography, works like this: Measure the length ...
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### Is there any serious discussion about using blinding intermediaries in digital currency scenarios?

A digital currency system like Lucre (OpenTransaction) creates a coin by a mint blind signing the output of a hash function, which the payer then unblinds and pairs with the input to the has function. ...
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### How can I make my cipher show the avalanche effect?

I am a beginner in cryptography. I designed an password based encryption-decryption algorithm, which uses a random salt and a password to encrypt a message. I'm using SHA-512 for hashing, matrix ...
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### AES and perfect ciphers

I'm taking a crypto class this semester and after learning the definition of a perfect cipher. I started wondering how this definition applies to AES. Obviously AES isn't a perfect cipher, since the ...
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### Are there practical upper limits of RSA key lengths?

Suppose one wanted to use RSA encryption for the sole purpose of sending key bits for use in symmetric crypto systems, a dedicated key exchange system so to speak. And say you didn't think that the ...
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### Cipher for Product Registration?

I'd like to implement a "Product Registration" scheme into my software where upon initial use, the User must enter a key to unlock it. The key they enter is compared to their encrypted Username. ...
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### For public-key encryption, why does COA resistance imply CPA resistance?

My professor told me: If a public-key crypto-system is secure against ciphertext-only attacks, then it is also secure against a chosen-plaintext attack. Why is this true? Is there a proof that ...
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### What is pre-image resistance, and how can the lack thereof be exploited?

What is "preimage resistance", and how can the lack thereof be exploited? How is this different from collision resistance, and are there any known preimage attacks that would be considered feasible?
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### Best way to reduce chance of hash collisions: Multiple hashes, or larger hash?

I would like to maintain a list of unique data blocks (up to 1MiB in size), using the SHA-256 hash of the block as the key in the index. Obviously there is a chance of hash collisions, so what is the ...
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### Linear Cryptanalysis

What is the principle of linear cryptanalysis, as applied to a block cipher ? For instance, this page gives the rough outline of differential cryptanalysis.
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### Avalanche effect in DES

I couldn't understand the avalanche effect in DES. Could someone explain how avalanche effect happens in DES
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### How does one provide a secure and authentic communication channel?

Let assume two participants Alice and Bob who perform a given protocol which is a sequence of messages exchange between them. My question is: How can I provide a secure and authentic communication ...
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### Is it reasonable to assure that p-1 and q-1 aren't smooth?

I came across the requirement that, in RSA, $p-1$ and $q-1$ shouldn't be smooth, shouldn't consist of lots of small factors. Therefore my question: How complicated is it to check whether $p-1$ is ...
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### Encrypting and obscuring data between site/user without SSL

Im trying to figure out what the best way to encrypt data sent between a webpage and the user(both ways) is, when hosted in an environment that doesn't support SSL. The purpose of encryption would be ...