# All Questions

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### Protocol for Randomized Oblivious Transfer?

If we define Oblivious Transfer as following: Alice inputs $(x_0,x_1) \in F^2$, where $F$ is a field, and Bob inputs $b\in\{0,1\}$, then Alice gets a dummy output(for which she knows nothing about ...
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### 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 ...
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### 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 ...
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### Why does GPG ciphertext length differ with fixed plaintext length?

Thank you for your reply. Based on your inputs. I was investigated further, find details below Step 1) Input string for encryption is UUID format Input data = c0c6f311-a793-4d65-9374-1c0e45f5382c ...
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### May I use Random Oracle for Inversed Look-up?

Consider there is a protocol in real world calling a random oracle $\mathcal{H}$ for a priavte input $k$. Then in the ideal world, after the calling of $r \leftarrow \mathcal{H}(k)$ by a honest party, ...
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### RSA: Most significant key bit always 1?

Is it possible to say that the most significant bit of an RSA private exponent is always 1? Wouldn't that weaken the key strength by exactly that one bit? I refer to the paper "Timing Attack: What ...
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### Memory hardness of key derivation function through XOR-ring multiple matrix values

For theoretical purposes in order to enhance my own understanding, and NOT in order to create my own cryptography, I am asking a question about the memory-hardness of a key derivation function ...
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### What is the use case for XOF functions (i.e. SHAKE128/256)?

FIPS 202 defines 2 functions: SHAKE128 SHAKE256 As extendable-output functions (XOFs) that can have variable output length. But in Appendix A.2 marks: it is possible to use an XOF as a hash ...
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### Is there any relation between two strings with the same MD5 hash?

Is there any relation between two strings with the same MD5 hash? For example these two strings: ...
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### gpg --gen-random quality level: is higher “better”?

The GNU Privacy Guard manual pages have this to say about using the gpg --gen-random 0|1|2 count command: Emit count random bytes of the given quality level 0, ...
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### Making Pascal Paillier' output absolute

Can we make subtraction result of cipher texts encrypted by Pascal Paillier absolute. Just like we use method Math.abs() in Java ? For example, if we subtract 0 from 1: 1-0 = 1, it is positive but 0-1 ...
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### Which is/are the strongest known Fully Homomorphic Encryption scheme(s)?

As it is discussed here that the highest security any homomorphic encryption scheme is at most IND-CCA1, Is there any known fully homomorphic encryption scheme that achieves this security level? Out ...
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### How to test a FHE implementation?

I want to implement a FHE scheme based on NTRU, namely the scheme described here https://eprint.iacr.org/2014/039.pdf . How to test the security of my implementation ? Do I have to implement the ...
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### Small Quantum Signatures - Reality check needed

I've been thinking a bit lately about how to get quantum resistant signatures fast and (relatively) small. One idea I've been keen on exploring is finding a crypto PRNG that allows fast-forwarding, ...
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### Deciphering “easy” ciphers without hints

I've been keen on IT Security for a long time now and I've learned a lot about networking & security. However trying a "decryption challenge" I'm lacking what I think is basic ...
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### Are there MD5 collisions for inputs of different length?

There are many examples of MD5 collisions (some of them can be found here Are there two known strings which have the same MD5 hash value?). But as far as I know two inputs should have the same length ...
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### How to find the value of a vector modulo a basis in lattice-based cryptography

In Gentry's paper on fully homomorphic encryption using ideal lattices, he finds the values of vectors modulo a certain basis. For instance: $\psi \leftarrow \psi' \mod B$ Taken from page 69 of ...
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### How can you produce visual cryptography?

I would like to be able to "code" images such as the one seen here on Wikipedia. Is this generally produced with software, or does this require complex programming? Ideally, I would love to be able ...
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### Is authenticated encryption basically a lockable box?

I recently used a custom construction as a commitment scheme, which was taken from the standard picture you give people while explaining commitment schemes. Basically commitment schemes can be ...
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### Are all stream-ciphers IND-CPA?

A stream cipher usually generates a stream of pseudo-random bits which get XORed with the plaintext to form the ciphertext. The stream is generated using a given IV / nonce and a secret key. CTR-mode ...
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### Where is SRP-Z from?

The Stanford license for SRP says: Broader use of the SRP authentication technology, such as variants incorporating the use of an explicit server secret (SRP-Z), may require a license; Yet ...
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### AES and Homomorphic Encryption

Is it possible to do the following? Input would be to generate a new AES key, encrypt the private data with that key, encrypt the AES key with the FHE key, and send the FHE-encrypted AES key along ...
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### Is there a scheme that allows to use RSA based challenge response protocol limited to signing only 8 bytes to create a secure signature of any data?

I have a tiny device that has a challenge-response authentication mechanism where the device signs 8 bytes of any data with it's internal 2048 bit RSA key. I would like to be able to certify any data ...
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### Decrypt all RSA ciphertexts if you can break 1% of them

I was given a cryptography question during an interview the other day. Imagine you are given an efficient algorithm which for a given RSA public key (n,e) is able to decrypt 1% of the messages ...
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### Which public key encryption scheme is re-randomizable? How can I re-randomize an encryption scheme?

Which public key encryption scheme is re-randomizable? Is there any library for re-randomizable encryption scheme? If not, how can I re-randomize a given public key encryption scheme? I cannot find ...
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### AES-ECB as an authentication mechanism

ECB is considered to be insecure when used for confidentiality because identical plaintext result with identical ciphertext. But what if we use ECB for authentication? Assume A wants to transmit an ...
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### Partial hash code protocol for security tokens providing signatures

I've read the following two sentences within a beta protocol specification, which references ISO/IEC 7816-8 for PSO:HASH which already contains notions of a "partial hash". The off-card entity is ...
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### Security issues of a MAC-then-Encrypt-then-MAC approach?

Encrypt-then-MAC does provide ciphertext integrity, but no plaintext integrity. With MAC-then-Encrypt it’s the other way around: Plaintext integrity but no ciphertext integrity. What comes to mind is ...
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### 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 ...
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### Using PBKDF2 twice with different argument order

I'm pretty sure this is a really bad approach (in theory), but one of my clients is doing this and I was wondering… How bad it is to perform pbkdf-2 in this way (with 2000 iterations)? ...
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### What differences between Menezes–Vanstone ECC and ElGamal ECC?

After researching ECC encryption, I found that we can use ElGamal cryptosystem with elliptic curve and can we use Menezes-Vanstone cryptosystem with elliptic curve. What is the essential difference ...
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### Does $i^n=j^n$ for $i, j \in GF(2^q)$ and $i \neq j$ for some $n<2^q-1$

Let $i, j \in GF(2^q)$ and $i \neq j$ and $i,j\neq0$. Is that possible that $i^n=j^n$ for some $n$ such that $0 < n < 2^q-1$? I am looking for a proof if the answer is no, or for a method to ...
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### Why is Serpent faster than AES in this benchmark?

I have a laptop without the AES-NI CPU instructions but with SSE4.1. I'm using Linux and tried the (in-memory) cryptsetup benchmark to get the rough tendency which returned: ...
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Trying to find related answer for a long time, but not convinced yet. What I am trying is to encrypt using RijndaelManaged. To create Key, I am passing password, ...
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### Why can't hashes be reversed with toffoli gates?

This is a follow up question to this question: Crack cryptographic hash functions using Toffoli gates?. Suppose there is a hash function $$H(x)=y,$$ where $x$ is the input of the function and $y$ is ...
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### How to attack this authentication protocol from “Cryptography: An introduction”

Consider the following protocol (from the book "Cryptography: An introduction", by Nigel Smart): ...
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### Two-timing a one-time pad [duplicate]

Is a one-time pad still breakable on a depth of 2+ if the plaintext is completely random? I'm assuming this idea is wrong, mostly because it occurred to me, but let me walk you through my logic so ...
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### Can I construct a feasible stream cipher out of HMAC and a secure hash algorithm?

I have constructed a stream cipher from a secure hash algorithm and a HMAC. Here is a brief description of the algorithm: Let: (Actually Objective-C styled pseudo code) ...
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### Does impersonating an SRP server give you enough information for an off-line dictionary attack?

In a comment to an answer I wrote to another question, CodesInChaos wrote that: "Problem with SRP is that an attacker who impersonates a server learns the password hash, enabling offline search." ...
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### Quadratic residuosity problem reduction to integer factorization

How can one show how to reduce the quadratic residuosity problem to an integer factorization?
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### Encrypted counter as IV in CBC mode encryption using same key

I'm currently working with a secure transport protocol that defines the IV to be a counter (incremental nonce) to be encrypted with the same key. This is a followup to a protocol that did not provide ...
763 views

to understand RSA better I am doing a little calculation by hand, this is what I got: Choosing: $p = 3$ $q = 5$ $n = 15$ $\phi(pq) = 2 \cdot 4 = 8$ $e > \phi(n) => e = 13$ $e \cdot d = 1 ... 2answers 481 views ### Is there a way to do fair exchange between two parties who don't trust each other? Let's suppose we have an Alice who knows a secret key A, and Bob who knows key B. Using their own keys, they each encrypt a message (Alice encrypts$m_A$, Bob encrypts$m_B$) with their own key, and ... 1answer 525 views ### Counter Mode: static IV but different keys [duplicate] Given we are using AES counter mode, suppose we randomly generate several keys, all of them are using same IV (say, zeros). Does this lead to any security issue? I know that in CTR mode, same key-iv ... 1answer 131 views ### What does “adaptively secure” mean? In a paper it says "In the generic group model, the PRF is adaptively secure for inputs of$\mathbb{Z}_q^n\$". Maybe a stupid question, but what does "adaptively secure" mean exactly?
Is there a practical homomorphic encryption scheme that can give reasonable execution time results in computing a dot product: $$a_1*b_1 + a_2*b_2 +a_3*b_3 +\ldots+ a_n*b_n$$ I imagine the scheme will ...