# All Questions

4k views

### Why should I use an Initialization Vector (IV) when I have unique keys?

I took a look at “Why, or when, to use an Initialization Vector?” but my question is not the same. I have unique keys encrypting each plaintext (in CBC mode, AES-256) and I do not use a key to ...
424 views

### Is triple des similiar to RSA in that they message size is limited to the key size?

Is triple des similiar to rsa in that the message size you can encrypt is limited (unlike AES)? Yes you can break the message size into parts and apply it, but I'm not interested in doing that so I ...
411 views

### IV Security Clarification

After doing lots of reading on SO and other websites relating to AES cryptography, I am trying to understand the security issues surrounding IV's. There seems to be a lot of confusion and ...
574 views

### When making public key fingerprints - is a sha1 hash still a good idea?

I'm thinking about trying to save some space (and readability) when referencing 2k and 4k public keys (millions of them) by storing the fingerprint in some places instead of the full public key. ...
242 views

### Why use $(r,s)$ instead of $(r,s^{-1})$ as DSA signature?

A DSA signature consists of two scalars $(r,s)$. When signing $s$ is generated as: $s=k^{-1}(H(m)+xr) \mod q$ The signature is $(r,s)$ When verifying $s$ is only used to compute $w = s^{-1}$. So ...
134 views

### How can I split a message in parts of similar size or smaller?

I have a 130-160 characters message that I need to split in say, 3 parts, and be able to reconstruct it by recovering all 3 parts. I also need that these parts are type-able, meaning that they can't ...
427 views

### In ECDSA, how many field operations are used for signature verification?

I am wondering about the computational cost of ECDSA signature verification, in term of multiplications in the base field; and, as an aside, in term of (much cheaper) additions. To make things ...
76 views

### Will D-Wave's quantum computers ruin classical encryption? [duplicate]

D-Wave has commercially available 512-qbit quantum computers now. A lot of big names are taking it seriously. Google, NASA, and USRA have joined forces to start a quantum AI lab. How far are we ...
46 views

### Distributing blocks with validation and non-dependant list generation

Problem Suppose I have a system of nodes that can communicate with a parent node, but not among each other. Suppose then a file on the parent node is split up into blocks and divided among the ...
1k views

### How is text converted to a number for RSA? [duplicate]

According to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSA_%28algorithm%29#Key_generation the key length is the number of bits in n. So how can a message of many megabytes (millions of bits) be modded by a 1024 ...
1k views

### If RSA is limited to 117-200 bytes or so, is that a very limited use case?

Am I missing something, or is RSA very very limiting when it comes to ecrypting data when it comes to the actual message size? I have read that you can only encrypt a message of around 117 to 200 ...
162 views

### Which version(s) of SRP are in ISO/IEC 11770-4:2006?

I am on the impression that SRP emerges as the least uncommon and best analyzed protocol for authentication and key agreement based on a short password. This states that SRP is part of IEC 11770-4, ...
1k views

### Are block ciphers used in public key crypto?

I was reading about block ciphers and most articles state they are being used in symmetric key cryptography. Are they also being used in public key cryptography? if not, what alternative pkc use? ...
361 views

### HMAC and assumptions on the cryptographic hash

According to Wikipedia, a cryptographic hash function has the following properties: Pre-image resistance: Given $h$, it's difficult to find any message $m$ such that $h = H(m)$. Second pre-image ...
293 views

### No IV for one off symmetric file encryption

My question is (hopefully, for somebody) a simple one; but my project is holding as I'm not sure. I read on SO that generating encryption keys without an IV is a bad idea, so is using a constant IV ...
520 views

I read that the Encrypt-then-MAC paradigm is provably secure. From what I understand, when using for example AES for encryption and HMAC_SHA256 for MAC generation (and the keys $K_1 \neq K_2$), this ...
781 views

### Secure use-cases of block cipher with 64-bit block size

In what cases can we use a weak block cipher like DES ? More precisely, Are there specific situation in which a weaken block cipher can still be used, for instance for certain types of plaintext ?
374 views

### ECC Point Multiplication of Product

I can calculate $Q = a\,b\,G$ in several ways: $Q = a \, (b \, G)$ or $Q = b \, (a \, G)$. These give the same result, as expected. But if I do $c = (a \, b) \bmod n$ where $a \, b$ is much greater ...
80 views

### Why does the server in S/KEY authentication only store a single password?

I've been reading about the S/KEY One-Time Password system on wikipedia here and was wondering why the server only stores a single password and not the list of one-time passwords like the client does. ...
127 views

### A substitution based on a matrix vector product

I choose at random an invertible square matrix A of size 128 in GF(2). I want to use this matrix as a substitution box. Is this a non linear transformation ? I've seen that substitution boxes are ...
307 views

### Is entropy affected by time?

I'm quite new to cryptographic systems, and today we discussed entropy at work. Since entropy is used to ensure the difficulty for an attacker to break in, I was wondering if the more time the high ...
221 views

### Can somebody explain the major contributions of the tenants of the Gödel Prize 2013?

As you may know, the Gödel Prize 2013 will be awarded this year to cryptographers (see this ACM press release). The people awarded are Antoine Joux, the team of Dan Boneh and Matthew K. Franklin. Can ...
424 views

### How insecure in practice?

I am in attempt to understand relative insecurity of certain encryption schemes. Particularly of interest is DES and RC2. I know AES is better and should be used to encrypt. But practically, if ...
2k views

### Why are bitwise rotations used in cryptography?

Any understanding I have of cryptography stops right around the cipher level. As such, I'm just curious as to why bit shifts and moreover circular bit shift are so prevalent in cryptography.
165 views

121 views

### Encrypt user email but be able to find user by email

Sorry for my dumb question, but it's better to ask dumb question than to do dumb things silently. I want to encrypt user email in my DB so that if someone stole the DB (and not the key) - he won't be ...
2k views

### University for Crypto grad study [closed]

(I thought twice before asking this question and quite reluctant to type as well, but I think this would be helpful). I am an undergrad student and choose theoretical computer science as my major. ...
381 views

### How to verify a shared secret using only AES?

I have two devices that need to verify that they both are in possesion of the same secret key. One of the devices is a very limited embedded device that only has AES128 available, no SHA or other hash ...