# All Questions

877 views

Consider the pairing $e: G_1*G_2 \to G_t$. Why we are mapping element from group $G_1$ and group $G_2$ to an element in $G_t$. How are they used in cryptography? What advantages do they provide?
167 views

### Is there a general method to crack this type of fractionating cipher?

I've seen a few puzzles based on a type of cipher in which letters in the plaintext are substituted with groups of characters in the ciphertext. The ciphertext only uses a handful of unique ...
135 views

### Generate random in secure message transfer

I’m doing a school assignment about secure communications between a Server and a Client. Basically, messages are exchanged between the clients and the server and these communications must implement ...
316 views

### What is the GnuPG process for going from a passphrase to a symmetric key?

Suppose I use GnuPG to symmetrically encrypt a file like so: gpg --no-options -c --cipher-algo AES256 --no-random-seed-file -o my.out my.file I then provide a ...
115 views

### Diffie-Hellman for Encryption

In learning how DH works for cryptography applications, I'm coming across some confusing language. For starters, most of the time DH is discussed in the context of "generating" their shared secret. ...
73 views

### A confusion about linear span of modified de Bruijn sequence

Recently i'm reading "Cryptographically Strong de Bruijn Sequences with Large Periods" . In the section 2 2.1 Basic Denitions and Properties , property 1 says that ...
504 views

### Game traffic encryption AES CTR + HMAC

I was asked to implement traffic encryption between the game server and clients. Currently, the traffic is not encrypted in any way, which lets players use cheats to listen to the traffic in order to ...
115 views

### Sample RSA-style signature confusion

I'm trying to study a simplified TLS-style protocol, including verifying RSA signatures. It's an attempt to verify using only a valid certificate. However, I can't manage to get anything to verify ...
105 views

### Are IVs and salts the same and usable for each other uses?

I'm new in the crypto world and I've just discovered PBKDF (I used to use typed passeword as symmetric key). When using some crypto mode, you're required to ...
241 views

### Bit commitment with 1-out-of-2 oblivious transfer

I know a protocol for bit commitment using regular OT (Bob has 1/2 chance of learning the bit Alice transferred to him) which goes like this: COMMITMENT PHASE Alice chooses a bit $b$ For ...
134 views

### What is the impact of different modes on pseudo randomness of AES?

AES in CBC-MAC mode is proven to be good PRF . But is there any study done on other modes ? how good is ECB mode as PRF ?
195 views

### Keyed digest function with odds of collision below the birthday bound?

I wonder if it is possible to devise a function $F(K,S,R_S)\mapsto D$ where: $K$ is some key (I have freedom on $K$, it could even be generated by a trusted party); $S$ is in $\{0,1\}^s$, say ...
220 views

### Pohlig-Hellman exponentiation block cipher

Let $G$ be a group of order $n$ and let $e,d$ be integers such that $ed\equiv 1 \pmod{n}$. Then the exponentiation maps $x \mapsto x^e$ and $y \mapsto y^d$ are inverse maps on $G$. These maps give us ...
168 views

### Can anyone tell me the name of this cipher please?

Can anyone tell me the name of this cipher please? I know it's a simple substitution cipher, I just don't know the name of it. Cipher Key: help Cipher alphabet: ...
920 views

### Can the XOR of two non-collision-resistant hashes be collision resistant?

Suppose I have two hash functions, of which neither (or only one) is collision resistant, and I want to create a new hash function by taking the bitwise exclusive or (XOR) of the results of those two ...
421 views

### Did NIST verify “post-quantum” claims in the SHA3 proposal papers?

I have been reading Bernstein’s “Quantum attacks against Blue Midnight Wish, ECHO, Fugue, Grøstl, Hamsi, JH, Keccak, Shabal, SHAvite-3, SIMD, and Skein” paper from 2010… This document disproves ...
2k views

### ECC key size and signature size

My understanding of ECDSA signature length is that it depends on the key size. So for instance, if a "prime256v1" is used, the signature length will be 64 because (n/8)*2 and for "secp384r1" it will ...
136 views

### How do I cryptanalyze a password field?

In a PostgreSQL database, I can see the following fields in a table (for a specific record): User = administrator Password = "ceMv9Me6go" Now the following are true: The password length is not ...
86 views

### collision resistant summarizer for long hash values

how we can summarize SHA-256 into shorter values when we for example can't handle more than 128 bits on system? its better just use first 128bit and ignore the rest of bits or split full value and XOR ...
526 views

### File Hash of Encrypted File

Simple question. I have a source file and I have encrypted it with a certain public key. If I take this exact same source file, encrypt it with the exact same key a few hours later would the file hash ...
923 views

### How do I test my encryption? (absolute amateur)

I am a hobby programmer with a background in biology and have developed an encryption program based on DNA. I tried to make it hard to crack, but it's essentially a substitution cipher and uses the ...
102 views

### What is the difference between PPE and SPPE?

Can somebody explain, in simple terms, the difference between Pseudo Random Permutation Ensemble and Super Pseudo Random Permutation Ensemble?
260 views

### Do test vectors ensure a cipher is free of backdoors?

If a cipher implementation passes unit tests using test vectors from some trusted source (these for AES, for example), then can we say that it is fully conforming to the specification, and must have ...
175 views

### iterated discrete log problem

Consider the following problem: given $g_1 \ldots g_i,h_1 \ldots h_i \in G$, $\forall i$ find $x_i$ such that $g_i^{x_i}=h_i$ For $i=1$ this is the discrete log problem and is assumed to to have ...
1k views

### 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 ...
412 views

### Is there a public key semantically secure cryptosystem for which one can prove in zero knowledge the equivalence of two plaintexts?

If Alice encrypts two messages $a$ and $b$, such that $x=E(a)$, $y=E(b)$. Can Alice prove (without revealing $a$, $b$ or the private key) that $a = b$? Obviously the proof must not be too long and it ...
898 views

### Applications of Group Ciphers

I've been reading a paper [1], and I've ran across something called a "Group Cipher", which is similar to homomorphic encryption, with an important difference. In homomorphic encryption we have an ...
708 views

### What's the main difference between Pohlig-Hellman and RSA?

Both Pohlig-Hellman and RSA perform encryption and decryption by exponentiation modulo some integer ($p$ prime for PH, $n$ composite for RSA). They both use a key $e$ as the exponent to encrypt a ...
164 views

### Has the distributed project “Number Fields @ Home” project benefited cryptography in any meaningful way?

Is there any new understanding, property, or knowledge that has come from the Number Fields @Home distributed computing project? Has any outcome advanced the study of cryptography, or altered ...
508 views

### How does this happen in RSA malleability?

I don't understand how the $E(m)$ turns into $E(mt)$. I mean, I don't know how does that transformation happen and how does the equation occur. $$E(m) \cdot t^e \bmod n = (mt)^e \bmod n = E(mt)$$ ...
477 views

### Slow one-way pseudo-random permutation?

I'm looking for a slow one-way pseudo-random permutation; or in other words a block cipher $E_K: P\in\{0,1\}^b\mapsto C\in\{0,1\}^b$ with moderate block size $b\approx 64$ bits, wide key $K$, ...
122 views

### Block Cipher Mode Amicable to Fast Key Change/Rotation Like XOR?

I'm working with documents encrypted in long term storage. When a client requests the document, the document should be delivered encrypted under a distinct key (distinct from the long term storage ...
611 views

### AES column mixing and S-Box confusion

I am trying to understand the AES encryption algorithm. I know that we process 128 bits at a time for a 128 bit key in a 4x4 octet form, but am confused by the following: How does the substitution ...
1k views

### Is it possible to create an open-source SecurID?

As far as I understand it, the hardware key-fob two-factor systems such as RSA SecurID depend on secret algorithms, and employ tamper-resistant hardware to prevent reverse engineering. Is there some ...
1k views

672 views

### Encryption Key derivation from numeric PIN?

I want to store data encrypted within an Android application. Keeping an encryption key safe outside the app is not an option so I looked into password derived key algorithms. I found a nice example ...
296 views

### Can one use a Cryptographic Accumulator to efficiently store Lamport public keys without the need of a Merkle Tree?

One of the problems of one-time Lamport signatures is that public keys are disposed after use, so you must generate many keys and store them in a Merkle tree. The root is the "real" public key and ...
151 views

### Could someone reuse client certificates?

To my understanding, if a server “cert+key” (RSA) is compromised, than the SSL/TLS network traffic can be decrypted. What about a client “cert+key” (RSA)? Could someone reuse client certificates? ...
420 views

### How is an AES Encrypted Message Decrypted with Random Padding?

One thing I was surprised to learn about AES is that random padding can be added to the message to make it a multiple of block size. What I can not wrap my head around is how this random padding can ...
353 views

### Diffie-Hellman: Does the size of the prime modulus depend on the potential size of the secret?

I'm writing my own cryptosystem that uses One Time Pad and Diffie-Hellman to generate keys for the OTP. I am using Rails on the server side and Javascript for the client side. Please don't tell me ...
164 views

### How is a PRNG used in the PGP?

I'm currently reading up on the components of PGP and I am wondering what exactly the PRNG is used for. PGP uses ANSI X9.17 and entropy from a users keystrokes to generate a temporary key. So, is ...
99 views

### Is it possible to modify SSL handshakes to enable PFS while still using RSA during the handshake?

I know we could possibly be using DH key exchange, that would enable PFS. However, what if we make modifications on our SSL 3.0 handshake such that the only cipher we use is RSA for the achieving PFS? ...
943 views

### What does Maj and Ch mean in SHA-256 algorithm?

I'm guessing they're some kind of standard function but what do they do and what do the names mean? A little explaination or link me to an article would be great.
489 views

### How should I manage Diffie-Hellman parameters on a Web Server?

Is there a best practice for Diffie-Hellman parameters (p, g, and q) used on a web server? The server is using ephemeral keys, but should the parameters be rotated on a regular basis? Is it OK for ...
111 views

### Can you provide an example in relation to Hidden Field Equations Multivariate?

I'm reading about Hidden Field Equations Multivariate scheme. My lecture states that the central map is a univariate polynomial $$P(X)=\sum_{i=0}^{r-1}\sum_{j=0}^{r-1}p_{ij}x^{q^i+q^j} \in K[X]$$ ...