# All Questions

112 views

### Private set intersection, using a semi-trusted server

Alice has a set $S$ of words. Bob has a set $T$ of words. They want to compute the intersection $S \cap T$ of their words, with the help of a semi-trusted third party Trent. Trent runs a central ...
216 views

### I need a 64-bit cryptographic hash for 96 bits of data

I have a situation in which I need to combine a 32-bit datum, G, and a 64-bit datum, I, to produce a 64-bit datum. No two ...
143 views

### Rainbow tables and blowfish

I'm thinking of implementing rainbow tables for a specific blowfish problem, but I have trouble thinking of the proper way to apply the original paper (and its application to hash functions) to ...
114 views

### Sane implementations of Bitcoin cryptography routines w.r.t. side-channel attacks

Bitcoin uses SHA-256, Base58Check, ECDSA (Sep256k1) and RIPEMD-160 as the basis of its encryption (see this article for a short guide on how addresses are created). I would like to create an ...
173 views

### What is the best way to share a shared secret key over HTTPS to be used for HMAC authentication?

I am writing an application in Java that will be using SHA-1 HMAC message authentication. From what I understand, a connection over HTTPS is considered secure enough to share a secret key in plain ...
143 views

I'm looking to do some research into how RSA is used in the wild. I've read through a few papers and it seems other researchers have had no trouble collecting millions of keys to perform analysis on. ...
111 views

### cryptographically good random elliptic curves?

After an answer here, about generate elliptic curves, I've start thinking about the algorithm. The mentioned algorithm will produce curves in the Weierstraß Reduced Form (WRF) over finite fields: ...
85 views

### What is the practical relevance of the wordsize when using a Hash?

I understand that the word size is the internal "working package size" below the block size of a cryptographic hash function (and a block cipher), as each block is broken into words an than processed ...
75 views

### Parallel-resistant proof-of-work scheme without hidden knowledge

Follow-up to: Parallel-resistant proof-of-work scheme? Is there a proof-of-work scheme that: can only be solved serially; given the solution, can be verified in minimal time; deterministically ...
49 views

### Why the same characteristics cannot be used to recover all FEAL4 keys

I am trying to understand how differential Cryptanalysis works. Here I read how to use differential cryptoanalysis for cracking FEAL4 cipher. The big gotcha with this process is that you cannot ...
165 views

### Understanding multiplication in the AES specification

I am reading through the AES specification and am not able to wrap my head around the multiplication definition (section 4.2). Sorry to refer to a spec but AES is the holy grail in crypto so I hope ...
305 views

### Breaking Double Encryption

I am trying to understand how an attacker knows when he has successfully decrypted a ciphertext for an assignment. As such, some pointers/hints for the following questions would be greatly ...
57 views

### Using a hash with a constant key to create easily verifiable codes

I'll keep my question short. If I keep handing out different codes generated by this function, will it be trivial to figure out the secret key? ...
191 views

### Entropy test for AES Key Schedule

According to the article "Lest We Remember: Cold Boot Attacks on Encryption Keys" there is a quick and dirty entropy test that can help to find possible AES Key Schedules in memory dumps. Although ...
74 views

### Finding an x such that xP = (11,44) on an elliptic curve

Given the elliptic curve $$E:y^2 = x^3+17x+5 \mod 59$$ with point $P = (4,14)$, how do I find $x$ such that compute $x\cdot P = (11,44)$ Is there a mathematical method to compute $x$, or do I ...
149 views

### Why Victor must not know which tunnel Peggy chooses?

In the classic description of Zero Knowledge Proof of Knowledge, Victor must wait outside the entrance to the cave while Peggy goes to the fork and choose a side. It's only once Peggy has entered a ...
150 views

### Is $H(x) = x^2 \bmod p$ pre-image resistant, second pre-image resistant and/or collision resistant

I have the function $H(x) = x^2\bmod p$ , where $p$ is a prime of length n bits and this function maps to the message $x$ to a n-bit hash value $H(x)$. I need to find out if it is pre-image ...
53 views

### Is ecryptfs safe after unmounting but before turning off the computer

I've read that one of the vulnerabilites of ecryptfs is leaks to swap memory, and that the solution is to encrypt swap. But even if swap is encrypted, it's still open until I reboot. I've also read in ...
148 views

### Given p and q of DSA how do you show they are prime?

I am given p = 4916335901 q = 88903 and am asked to show these are prime as well as q|(p-1) in DSA. I am unsure on how to ...
91 views

### Reseeding a PRNG with the generated PRN

Would reseeding a PRNG with the PRN from the previous generation have any effects whatsoever on the quality of the generated numbers; if so, does this depend on the PRNG used, or are the effects ...
320 views

### Attack of an RSA signature scheme using PKCS#1 v1.5 encryption padding

My best interpretation of this question is that Java's crypto API has been subverted to perform RSA signature using PKCS#1 v1.5 encryption padding. Assume the signature $S$ of a message $M$ is ...
188 views

### Number of possible keys in a Play fair cipher [duplicate]

So for the play fair case, the number of possible keys is : 26x26 = 676 possible keys But if we consider the repeated letters, how many unique keys will the play fair have? I mean how will ...
180 views

### Right usage of PBKDF2 and login system questions

I'm developing the login part of my application and I was asking myself how to do it right. My application stores some users' data server-side that must be inaccessible from us, so all the content ...
229 views

### SHA-256 Partial Collision of initial 36 bits and more

I was lucky enough to, by brute force, have found two different messages, whose SHA-256 hashes collide in the first 9 hexadecimal characters, which are 36 bits, ...
382 views

### Hill cipher cryptanalysis - known plaintext known key size

Hello I want to know how to go about this problem I know the plaintext "abcdef" and the ciphertext. The key size is 2. I really can't figure out how to find the key for decrypting and encrypting.
67 views

### Adding “salt” to “doHash” function in Java [closed]

For one of my university projects I am being asked to "Improve the code to satisfy the pre-image resistance requirement." Basically the program is a basic encryption server system, and when I type a ...
129 views

### 64 bit Elliptic Curve key?

For a simple proof of concept project i'm (attempting!) to do, i've started looking into openSSL elliptic curve cryptography. However instead of the standard key lengths, 160-512. I'm interested in ...
77 views

### Does “use of SHA-256 in cryptography” imply use of SHA-256 both in HMAC and DH key exchange, assuming these are the only uses of hash in system? [closed]

I am beginner to Cryptography. And recently I came across the requirement like "use of SHA-256 in cryptography". Does "use of SHA-256 in cryptography" imply use of SHA-256 both in HMAC and DH key ...
90 views

### Weil pairing implementation - low level programming language

I'm just started to studying elliptic curve cryptosystems. My one month-goal is to write a simple signature system based on the Weil-pairing. Some parts of it can be written without deeper ...
578 views

### Is this a pseudo random function (PRF)? F(k,x) = f(k,x) - f(k,x-1)

I have a question about Pseudo Random Functions. Let $f:\{0,1\}^m \times \{0,1\}^n → \{0,1\}^n$ be a secure PRF. Define $F(k,x) = f(k,x) - f(k, x-1 \bmod 2^{n}) \bmod 2^{n}$. Is $F$ is a secure ...
158 views

### Why should a signature use PSS padding in RSA?

Suppose I send a message using AES (private keys already negotiated securely) and I send a hash of this message using RSA (encrypted with private key) with OAEP to verify the authenticity and ...
81 views

### Will non-ECC algorithms like RSA eventually become too inefficient?

The strength of symmetric and asymmetric encryption schemes scales with the key length, but there is a difference between symmetric algorithms like AES and asymmetric algorithms like RSA. For ...
193 views

### Is it overkill to run a key generated by OpenSSL through pbkdf2?

I'm generating a key & iv with OpenSSL via: ...
78 views

### Which hardware-accelerated AES-GCM implementations support encryption in-place? [closed]

By encrypt in place I mean the following. Suppose I have an input plaintext of length L and I have also allocated an extra E bytes at the start and/or end of the buffer, with E << L. So the ...
160 views

### Key expiration policy for 3DES / TDES / Triple DES

I have a system that signs plain text messages using a message authentication code (MAC) encrypted with 3-key Triple DES. The short message is used on connection to establish a session key, so it ...
200 views

I want to encrypt data and protect its integrity and confidentiality. However, I cannot increase the length of the data. Are there any cipher modes of operation which provide confidentiality and ...
930 views

### How to calculate the maximum output size for data encrypted with a RSA Private Key?

I have an an encryption algorithm I am working with that looks like this: prv_key_enc(sha1_hash(data)) Where, the RSA parameters are: RSA/ECB/PKCS1Padding 1024 ...
82 views

### Is MITM possible after key exchange phase done successfully in RSA?

Is MITM attack theoretically possible after public/private key pair exchange is done successfully. Say Alice and Bob have genuine public keys of each other. Is MITM possible further during ...
274 views

### why inverse in diffie-hellman protocol will not give same value?

Security of diffie hellman protocol is $K=g^{ab}$.if sender want to calculate value of $b$(given $a$) he can do $g^{{{ab}^b}^{-1}}$(where K=$g^{ab}$) which will give $g^{a}$ as we are cancelling value ...
43 views

### Random numbers for Master Key and Key_block

Exploration through RFCs concludes that random numbers used in the creation of Master Key and Key Block(Key material for Encryption Key and Mac Secret) are from ServerHello.random and ...
63 views

I've read a paper that says that one of the "assumptions" that it makes is secure broadcast. Why is this an assumption? Can't a broadcast channel be built with simple primitives--i.e. encrypt and sign ...
67 views

### SHA-256 Wrong registers

I have a problem with my sha256 java implementation. The registers (a…h) are correct until j=24; ...
202 views

### Why is “multiplying” $g^x$ and $g^y$ not possible?

The computational Diffie-Hellman problem states that for a cyclic group $G$ of order $p$ and a generator $g$, it is hard to find the value $g^{xy}$ given only $g^x$ and $g^y$ (but easy if either $x$ ...
136 views

### Unpredictability vs randomness

I'm experimenting with creating an entropy source for an environment where I have no hardware available and the language is very high level (executed in a virtual machine). I know it's not a good idea ...
260 views

### What key exchange protocols give Forward-Secrecy resisting future progress?

I (wrongly) understood what I've been told as meaning DHE in TLS, PFS in IPSec do not provide Forward-Secrecy; and I'm told that common forward-secure key exchange protocols are restricted to ...
276 views

### Any use for now-defunct Mt Gox Yubikey?

As everyone is now aware, Mt Gox has declared bankruptcy. As what appears to be the very last thing they did, Mt Gox accepted my \$35 and fulfilled my special Mt Gox Yubikey. Having just arrived in the ...
100 views

### Tweakable encryption algorithms vs Key wrapping

I have read many articles about Key wrapping and tweakable cipher modes. However, I don't understand the main difference between them? What you recommend for Key storage and Key Archive.
90 views

### encrypted file sharing protocol

I am trying to design a file exchange protocol for learning purposes, inspired by PGP, but fixing some of its shortcomings. Assuming the machine where the creation and decryption of the file happens ...
I am looking at ways to speed up modular reduction for the polynomial $$2^{256}-2^{32}-2^9-2^8-2^7-2^6-2^4-1$$ I have read the paper "Generalized Mersenne numbers" by J.A. Solinas, but it does not ...