# All Questions

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Suppose we have a RSA-type Modulus $n = pq$ with $p,q$ prime. We also pick a random public exponent $e$ with $\gcd(e,\varphi(n)) = 1$ and compute the private exponent $d$ with $de \equiv 1 ... 1answer 220 views ### What is the correct value for “certainty” in RSA key pair generation? I'm creating an RSA key pair in Bouncy Castle and need to specify an int value for certainty. This Stack Overflow answer says it is a relative test for how prime the values are. There is another ... 2answers 1k views ### Impacts of not using RSA exponent of 65537 This RFC says the RSA Exponent should be 65537. Why is that number recommended and what are the theoretical and practical impacts & risks of making that number higher or lower? What are the ... 1answer 492 views ### Deciphering a key from XOR encrypted cypher using boolean logic Assume there's an unencrypted message A, and an encrypted message B. You know that message B was encrypted using a simple XOR method of A with a private key K, resulting in message B. Thus, B = A ⊕ K ... 1answer 188 views ### Proof of work for standard computers I'm interested in a proof-of-work system that works well on standard computers without using the GPU. Properties the system should have: Seed based proof-of-work. There is no distinguished ... 0answers 92 views ### Setting protocol parameters to achieve concrete security Background One issue with modern security proofs is that they are usually asymptotic. In other words, such proofs are usually formulated as follows: For any polynomial-time adversary$\mathcal A$, we ... 1answer 142 views ### How are state wiretaps obtaining plaintext from encrypted transmissions? According to the US 2011 Wiretap Report, encryption — on the off chance that it is encountered — has been no hurdle to retrieving the content of a conversation. Public Law 106-197 amended 18 ... 3answers 246 views ### Multiple Hash Functions that work in either nesting Are there any hashing functions that, if two are used in conjunction (with the same salts) will return the same response regardless of ordering? I.e. are there hash-functions$H_1$,$H_2$such that ... 2answers 295 views ### Using bad generator in ElGamal Encryption Suppose Alice chooses a random Prime$p$and a random private Key$a \in \mathbb{Z}^*_p$. By accident, she also chooses a random number$g \in \mathbb{Z}^*_p$, which is not a generator of ... 1answer 183 views ### Generating a strong unique Initialization Vector How can I determine if I am generating a unique and strong Initialization Vector? If my mode is generating Keystream? Is there any scientific explanation in generating a unique and strong ... 1answer 108 views ### Why does it matter for a signature scheme to be without random oracles? There is a profusion of articles proposing signature schemes without random oracles (see for yourself). What does that mean, and why does it matter? 1answer 190 views ### Length of data to hash for PGP I have finally managed to verify some simple PGP signed message blocks. However, I discovered that for some reason, my implementation limits me to verifying data that is 9-16 bytes long. no less. no ... 4answers 494 views ### How can I validate a hashed password if all I have is another hash? The Scenario I have a client-side web application that bounces requests against a server-side API. For the sake of simplicity, every request must pass a username and password. This is similar to ... 2answers 114 views ### What is the advantage of an attacker over breaking a 4 digits PIN? When a hardware system is protected by a 4 digits password, what is the advantage of the attacker into breaking that system? Isn't it$10*10*10*10=10^{4}$? If$\frac{1}{10^{4}}$is the cost of such ... 4answers 315 views ### Is it possible to make time-locked encrytion algorithm? I'm not sure if what I'm asking is even a valid question but here goes. Would it be possible to add a mechanism to an encryption algorithm that would mean it had to be a certain time of the day or a ... 1answer 94 views ### Abstracting primitives and modes of operation I am developing a symmetric crypto library and have reached a roadblock. Looking at block ciphers, it is quite obvious that all block ciphers are trivially abstractable as a simple primitive ... 4answers 191 views ### Asymmetric algorithm to generate compact unique messages that can be validated I have a cryptographic problem with the following characteristics: I need to generate a set of relatively short messages; say 20 bytes in length The contents of the messages themselves is not ... 2answers 301 views ### Capacity of Advanced Encryption Standard in terms of File Encryption what is the capacity of AES in terms of File Encryption? is it really good to encrypt a large files in AES? ex. I am encrypting a 8GB of File... is it still good to used AES? is it still good to used ... 2answers 236 views ### How does the cyclic attack on RSA work? I am trying to get the idea of cyclic attacks againts assymetric RSA encryption. Taken from Handbook of applied cryptography . Let$k$be a positive integer such that$$c^{(e^{k})} = c\mod n ... 2answers 318 views ### Are Stream Ciphers Less Secure? This is by no means a scientific observation, but it seems to me that stream ciphers receive a lot less attention than block ciphers. Is there any reason for this? (Is it because block ciphers are ... 1answer 396 views ### Are there any known collisions for the SHA-2 family of hash functions? Are there any known collisions for the hash functions SHA-1, SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512? By that, I mean are there known values of a and ... 0answers 84 views ### How do I protect user data at rest? [closed] I want to encrypt the username, email, and password fields in the database AND encrypt user files at rest. How can I do this? I am aware of software such as Gazzang and since there is not cost ... 2answers 954 views ### How much computing resource is required to brute-force RSA? It's been over 30 years since Rivest, Shamir and Adleman first publicly described their algorithm for public-key cryptography; and the intelligence community is thought to have known about it for ... 1answer 165 views ### Expectation Value of the Index of Coincidence Can Anybody tell me why the expectation value of the Index of Coincidence is the following? For a cipher text string of length$L$, where$n$is the number of alphabet characters,$k_r = 1/n$, and ... 1answer 124 views ### Does it make sense to use slow hashes in digital signatures? For storing passwords, it seems that the use of intentionally slow hash functions (like PBKDF2 and bcrypt) is now recommended. This is because most hashes are designed to be fast, which also makes ... 3answers 201 views ### Getting started [closed] I'm looking for a good place to start in cryptography and places to go to get free books etc on the topic. I have been looking online but I always get stuck at some point or another. I need something ... 2answers 105 views ### Byte location of plaintext vs ciphertext when using a block cipher or stream cipher I know that when you use a stream cipher you are just XOR'ing the plain text with the PRNG stream, such that you know if a specific byte is in position 3 of the plain text it will still be in ... 1answer 554 views ### What is the difference between these AES encryption methods I am using AES encryption (Rijindael) with Base-64 encoding in Obj-C and VB. I am currently using the following two projects to achieve this: Obj-C: ... 2answers 136 views ### Is there a way to compare the 923 bit pairing based key with RSA or AES, etc I've see many articles, most of them basically the same, praising Fujitsu for cracking what is referred to as a 923 bit pairing based encryption. I understand that in comparing RSA to AES you've got ... 1answer 253 views ### bcrypt - collision-resistance against chosen salt and work factor? Would it be difficult to find$\:$cost,salt,input,password0,password1$\:$such that bcrypt(cost,salt,password0,input) = bcrypt(workfactor,salt,password1,input) and$\:$password0 != password1$\:$... 1answer 653 views ### Use of nonces in Kerberos and Needham–Schroeder protocols Can you please explain me what is the reason of using nonces in the Needham-Schroeder and in the Kerberos protocols for Key Transport. In particular : Can you explain me the use of$N_A$? And ... 2answers 537 views ### What do the magic numbers 0x5c and 0x36 in the opad/ipad calc in HMAC do? Wikipedia lists the following pseudocode for HMAC: ... 3answers 623 views ### Do I have to recompute all hashes if I change the work factor in bcrypt? The well-known article about why we should use bcrypt for hashing passwords mentions the work factor - some parameter to the algorithm that determines how long one hashing should be in terms of number ... 1answer 118 views ### Chaum undeniable signature - justification for probability of misleading the verifier? Can anyone explain me in details why does the following statement hold true in Chaum and van Antwerpen scheme for undeniable signature? The probability that a dishonest signer is able to ... 3answers 580 views ### What is the recommended replacement for MD5? Since MD5 is broken for purposes of security, what hash should I be using now for secure applications? 1answer 307 views ### Why must IV/key-pairs not be reused in CTR mode? Many sources mention that IVs must not be reused with the same key in CTR mode, for encrypting 2 different pieces of data, because that totally destroys security - but I haven't found an explanation ... 2answers 202 views ### How can I solve the discrete logarithm modulo 2q+1 if I can solve it in the subgroup of order q? As part of my cryptography course I came across an exercise that neither me or my friends could figure out. The problem statement is as follows: Let$p$be a large prime of the form$p = 2q + 1$... 1answer 246 views ### Partial collisions for md5 Let$h$be a bitstring and let$P(h, n)$be the n-bit prefix of$h$. A partial collision of length$n$, for a hash function$H$is a pair$(x,y)$, such that$P(H(x),n)=P(H(y),n)$. What is known about ... 1answer 118 views ### RSA Signature - Multiple Use Weakness I cite from Fundamentals of Computer Security (Chapter 7 on Digital Signature, Paragraph 7.3 on RSA Signatures, page 289): Multiple uses of the RSA Signature scheme tend to weaken it. The way out ... 2answers 415 views ### Are there standards for transport layer security using only symmetric keys? I have an embedded system with AES-128 implemented in hardware. There is very little flash/RAM and the (8-bit) CPU runs relatively slowly. Public key crypto isn't a viable option. This system is ... 1answer 93 views ### Why are there$ signs in my passwd file?

I am trying to get access to my eReader and I managed to get the passwd file. ...
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### Is ECB mode secure if plaintexts guaranteed to be unique?

I've got a scenario where I need to encrypt many small (16-byte) plaintexts. I want to use AES-128 in ECB mode. Notably, each plaintext is guaranteed to be unique, though each may differ by only a few ...
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### Distinguishing Encryption Methods from the Output

Suppose that you see all IP communication packets between two computers for a day, as they pass through a connecting router, and this amounts to 10MB. You additionally know that all data transmission ...
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### Does Identity-Based Encryption actually solve any problem?

Identity based encryption schemes [*] seem to have great potential in high-latency Delay-Tolerant and mobile, ad-hoc networks since they apparently seem to avoid the need for key negotiation and ...
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### Digital Signatures, Standard Hash Functions and MACs

I'm studying Hash functions and Digital Signatures in sequence, and came up with some doubts about their usage. First of all: What is the difference between hashing a document and signing it? And ...
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### Goldreich-Goldwasser-Micali Construction

The Goldreich-Goldwasser-Micali construction allows to build a (cryptographically secure) pseudo-random function from of a (cryptographically secure) pseudo-random generator. More formally, let \$G: ...
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### Is symmetric encryption vulnerable to plain-text-attacks?

Imagine that Bob sends a message to Alice for symmetric encryption to send to Charlie. (Only Alice and Charlie know the key.) Alice sends the encrypted message back to Bob to send to Charlie. Can Bob ...
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### Are there any differences between PIR, oblivious transfer and differential privacy?

I am trying to make a taxonomy of different purposes of some cryptographic protocols. Generally speaking the purpose of PIR, oblivious transfer and differential privacy it sounds like being invented ...