# All Questions

539 views

### Deniable Encryption from simple primitives

Is there a deniable encryption scheme $M = E(p_1,k_1,p_2,k_2,...,p_n,k_n), p_j = D(M,k_j)$ of $n$ plaintexts $p_1,p_2,...,p_n$ and $n$ keys $k_1,k_2,...,k_n$, such that we can fix $D$ to be a known ...
443 views

### What's the reason for applying the hash twice when hashing with salt?

One of the typical approaches to computing a salted hash is this: hash(salt+hash(secret)) where hash is something like SHA-256 hash function - taking any size ...
200 views

### Is there an upper bound to the private exponent in RSA?

In the RSA algorithm, we choose $p$ and $q$ as prime numbers and we select a value $e$ which is coprime to $\varphi(pq)=(p-1)(q-1)$. Then we calculate $d:=e^{-1}\bmod\varphi(pq)$. My question is: ...
428 views

### Cryptanalysis and weaknesses of SEED cipher

I've discovered that a client has SEED enabled in their SSL ciphers, and would like to know a bit more about it from a security perspective. The Wikipedia article doesn't mention any flaws, yet I've ...
2k views

### RSA-based authentication and key-agreement protocol

An authentication and key-agreement protocol between devices shall mutually demonstrate their identity, and establish a shared random secret $R$ suitable for securing later communications. To that ...
438 views

### Useful pairings for cryptography

I've recently looked a bit at pairing based cryptography and I was wondering what properties the groups involved should have in order to be useful for cryptographic purposes? Has anything more exact ...
2k views

### What is the progress on the MIT LCS35 Time Capsule Crypto-Puzzle?

Ron Rivest posed a puzzle in 1999. MIT LCS35 Time Capsule Crypto-Puzzle. The problem is to compute $2^{2^t} \pmod n$ for specified values of $t$ and $n$. Here $n$ is the product of two large ...
619 views

### Does omitting the first two lines of RC4's pseudo-random generation algorithm weaken the cipher?

A particular educational software program published by a U.S. government agency uses a variant of RC4 to obfuscate its data files (see Stack Overflow question). The variant of RC4 in question is ...
7k views

### PBKDF2WithHmacSHA512 Vs. PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1

I'm working on a Java authentication subsystem that specs the storage of passwords in the DB as PBKDF2-generated hashes, and I'm now trying to decide whether I ...
1k views

### How much entropy is lost via hashing when you add known or low entropy data?

(I updated the title, as I think there was some confusion as to the question) Here's the question: For example, if I have a bit stream that is 64K bytes long and there is about 16 *8 bits worth of ...
217 views

### Hash which can be used to verify one of multiple inputs?

Is there a hash function H1 which, when given inputs a, b, etc., produces output ...
940 views

### ElGamal signature without calculating the inverse

I stumbled upon this question in some textbook. Propose a variant of ElGamal signature scheme such that there is no need to calculate the inverse $k^{-1}$ as it is usually done using the EEA. ...
386 views

### Toy encryption system that provides “hints”

I'm looking for a toy encryption system that has a specific property that when decrypting it with a key that is close enough to the key used in the encryption, it will produce some of the original ...
643 views

### For a one-time pad, which MAC method is information-theoretically secure?

In the the main post about MAC methods it mentions a few methods: Authenticate And Encrypt: The sender computes a MAC of the plaintext, encrypts the plaintext, and then appends the MAC to the ...
344 views

### S-box Cryptanalytic Resistance

In DES, different S-boxes were tested for cryptanalytic resistance and the most secure one was chosen for the algorithm itself. How do different S-boxes offer different levels of security against ...
297 views

### Is $f(x)\oplus x$ a one-way function?

Given that $f$ is a OWF and $|f(x)|=|x|$ for all $x$, is $g(x)=f(x)\oplus x$ necessarily also a OWF?
209 views

### Why have round constants in hashes?

This may seem like basic crypto knowledge, but why do hash functions like SHA-2 and Whirlpool have round constants that are absorbed into their respective states? I can understand that in a cipher ...
557 views

### Computing IV for CBC from PBKDF2 + HKDF

Note that this question is somewhat similar to Can I use my random IV (for AES) as a salt for PBKDF2? My current encryption format computes two random PBKDF2 salts (encryption and HMAC, 8 bytes each) ...
580 views

### Perfect Forward Secrecy with Pre-shared Key

I've recently been looking at how to do perfect forward secrecy on a unidirectional connection (server can only push messages to client, client cannot respond). What I've come up with is the idea of ...
539 views

### How to generate unique (random) numbers that can be traced back to a unique source number?

I need to generate unique (random) numbers that I can trace back to a unique source number. For example: source number A can generate numbers A1, A1, A3 .... Am source number B can generate numbers ...
1k views

### Security proofs for CBC mode

I'm looking for different approaches to proofs for the security of CBC mode encryption. What are the best sources of information about this subject?
400 views

### Small subgroup confinement attack on Diffie-Hellman

I am trying to understand the small subgroup confinement attack on the Diffie-Hellman algorithm. I will present the attack and try to explain why it works. Small subgroup confinement attack on the ...
1k views

### Security of authenticated encryption modes GCM & CCM

I have two questions for Clarification for AE mode choice criteria GCM : it appears to be actually the most popular and widely used AE mode of operation. however it is also well-known to be highly ...
136 views

### How can I figure out a hash algorithm?

This may be trivial, and may be impossible... this is outside my field but willing to learn. I have a hardware device that accepts a network MAC address (6 bytes of data) like this: 38-60-77-EC-1D-33 ...
276 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 ...
715 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 ...
41 views

### Is it possible and safe to use SAKKE for signing/verification, rather than for encryption?

Is it safe to use the Sakai–Kasahara key encryption algorithm (SAKKE) for signing/verification, rather than for encryption? (Example at bitbucket.org) In particular, I want many Bobs to be able to ...
162 views

### Is it possible to construct a secure block cipher of size $2n$ given a secure block cipher of size $n$?

Given, say, the Blowfish block cipher, which is considered secure but only has a 64-bit block size, can we construct a secure block cipher of 128-bit block size? Say we run the key through two KDFs, ...
208 views

### Why does a non-prime DH modulus creates a “NOBUS” backdoor

can't we do a nobus backdoor with DH modulus prime? Some have argued that with a prime modulus you can just get the order by doing p-1 and then factor it, thus it is easy to reverse. I argue that this ...
537 views

### Secret sharing scheme with possibility to change the secret

Here's a scenario I want to handle with a secret sharing scheme: Alice wants to share the secret $S$ with Bob, Charlie and Dave. Alice generates private shares based on $S$ for Bob, Charlie and Dave,...
177 views

### Digital signature for an expiring password

I would like to create a publicly available tool that is used to generate a password that gives a limited time access to a resource. My idea is to digitally sign the current date with a private key ...
4k views

### How large should a Diffie-Hellman p be?

In a Diffie-Hellman exchange, the parties need to agree on a prime p and a base g in order to continue. Assuming some ...
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853 views

### Why does applying 56-bit DES twice only give 57 bits of security? [duplicate]

Given two 56-bit keys, $k_1$ and $k_2$, why does $E_{k_1}(E_{k_2}(M))$ only give 57 bits of security? So basically I'm unsure why it only gives 57 bits of security; I understand that one key will ...
1k views

### How does a key wrapping like RFC 3394 secure my cryptographic keys?

So I'm messing around in the BouncyCastle library with the RFC 3394 AES Key Wrap engine and I'm trying to understand the benefit of it. The problem I'm running into is how to store keys securely on a ...
268 views

### Given a 'good' basis for a lattice, how can we solve the CVP?

I'm doing a little bit of reading about lattices. I read that if we can find a 'short' basis for our given lattice, we can solve CVP and SVP very efficiently. However, the paper didn't describe an ...
333 views

### md5: is reverse length-extension attack possible?

If I know H = md5( SECRET_KEY | DATA ) then I can calculate H' = md5( SECRET_KEY | DATA | DATA' ) That's length-extension ...
160 views

### How can I find the order of the group that an elliptic curve is defined over?

I have a Weierstrass elliptic curve ($y^2=x^3+a \times x+b \mod p$) How can I find the order of the group itself? I have seen Mathematica has a GroupOrder[] ...
213 views

### What functions allow for practical indistinguishability obfuscation?

Recently, there has been a major theoretical breakthrough in program obfuscation, in the area of indistinguishability obfuscation. Background: Indistinguishability obfuscation is a form of program ...
513 views

### Initialization Vector Properties

This is a multi-layer problem, and I want to take you through the whole thing rather than just asking about IVs. Bear with me. Also, all code below is in Common Lisp because that's what I'm using, but ...
691 views

### Diffie-Hellman key agreement with both Server Authentication and Perfect Forward Secrecy

I am trying to find the protocol with the least overhead, which still meets the following requirements: Server Authentication of server identity to client. The client has an authentic copy of the ...
378 views

### How feasible is word-level frequency analysis over English (or any language)?

Say I have some black box which, given any English word, deterministically outputs a token for that word. Assume our black box is implemented using strong cryptography, i.e. the hardness of reversing ...
212 views

### Addition step in MD5 implementation

In MD5, there are four rounds. After every round, why do we need to add the computed $Q$ values to the initial values and then take this value as input to the next round. For example after the first ...
48 views

### Could a strong round function be immune to slide attacks

An excerpt from the wikipedia article on slide attacks states: ...The only requirements for a slide attack to work on a cipher is that it can be broken down into multiple rounds of an identical F ...
I have learned from Applied Cryptography that triple encryption with three independent keys in encryption-decryption-encryption (EDE) process gives security not higher then $2^{2n}$ when it comes to ...