All Questions
2
votes
2answers
296 views
How to get the keyword from a keyword cipher?
I was given a ciphertext and now I am trying to break it via looking for the keyword.
This is a keyword cipher. So:
PlainEnglish: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
If ...
5
votes
3answers
936 views
In the SHA hash algorithm, why is the message always padded?
In the SHA hash algorithm the message is always padded, even if initially the correct length without padding; the padding is of the form "1" followed by the necessary number of 0s.
Why is it ...
2
votes
1answer
255 views
Replay attack prevention under strict conditions
Say I have a request-response protocol and the task to make it immune to replay attacks. The requirements are as follows:
The defense mechanism cannot rely on the clocks of the parties.
The defense ...
1
vote
1answer
156 views
How to properly add ECDSA private keys?
I'm currently working on an application that requires me to add two ECDSA private keys in order to make a new private key. The result has to have the property, that its corresponding public key is the ...
0
votes
1answer
104 views
Decimal to binary question [closed]
This is an easy question, but I can't explain it lol, how would you guys explain it?
There is a procedure for converting a decimal number to binary in the following way: repeatedly divide the number ...
1
vote
2answers
99 views
When to prefer exchanging cryptographic certificates over exchanging only public keys?
Let's think of the following case:
A group of peers want to exchange messages with each other. They use public-key cryptography to sign and encrypt messages. Anyone with any name can join the ...
6
votes
2answers
236 views
Attacks of the MAC construction $\mathcal{H}(m||k)$ for common hashes $\mathcal{H}$?
Consider a common practically-collision-resistant Merkle–Damgård hash function $\mathcal{H}$ (e.g. SHA-1, RIPEMD-160, SHA-256, SHA-512). We define a Message Authentication Code $\mathcal{C}$
$$(k,m) ...
3
votes
1answer
171 views
Does omitting the first two lines of RC4's pseudorandom 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 ...
9
votes
2answers
319 views
Is every output of a hash function possible?
Is every output of a hash function (e.g. SHA1, MD5, etc) guaranteed to be possible, or, conversely, are there any output values that cannot possibly be created from any input? If so, what guarantees ...
3
votes
1answer
124 views
Safely use CryptSignAndEncryptMessage?
I am developing an application that sends messages which I want to encrypt and sign. The CryptoApi offers a function called CryptSignAndEncryptMessage.
The description says, what this function ...
5
votes
1answer
306 views
Why are MACs in general deterministic, whereas digital signature constructions are randomized?
The fact is I'm not quite sure if my question statement is true, however all the MAC constructions I know of (e.g. CBC-MAC, CMAC, HMAC) are deterministic, whereas many constructions for digital ...
3
votes
2answers
272 views
are CFB and OFB really meant for streaming?
CFB, OFB and other modes are meant for streaming and don't require padding. Are there still limitations such as the text needs to be greater than key length?
2
votes
3answers
227 views
How can one sign with NTRU?
I am looking at implementing NTRU, but I noticed that while the encryption/decryption algorithm seems to be mature and well-documented, there is comparatively little information about how to sign ...
3
votes
1answer
196 views
Is quantum key distribution safe against MITM attacks too?
i read this recently: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12786-quantum-cryptography-to-protect-swiss-election.html
and some parts of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_key_distribution
...
9
votes
1answer
184 views
Which MACs can be converted into a secure unkeyed hash function?
It is known that setting the secret key to a fixed, public value does not make MACs like CBC-MAC or GMAC into secure unkeyed cryptographic hash functions that could be used - for instance - for ...
1
vote
1answer
58 views
Cryptographic Algorithm/Protocol needed
I am trying to achieve the following:
Encrypted files are stored on users filesystem. The user uses my client to authenticate against a server. Once he is authenticated successfully he gets a token ...
1
vote
0answers
60 views
Applying multiple hash functions to improve security? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Guarding against cryptanalytic breakthroughs: combining multiple hash functions
I'm a total newb to cryptography but after reading what I've read about it, I had a ...
5
votes
4answers
996 views
What alphanumeric string length can be used to guarantee no hash collisions from CRC-64?
If I'm hashing alphanumeric strings (chars in the set 0-9, a-...
15
votes
7answers
1k views
How can SSL secure a two-way communication with only one key-pair?
As I understand it, SSL involved the use of a public-private key pair. How does this enable two-way communication?
Suppose I have some server with which I wish to communicate securely. I connect to ...
2
votes
1answer
734 views
In which order are the round keys used during AES decryption?
In the Add Round Key step in AES decryption, which part of the expanded key will I XOR first to the result of the SubBytes step?
Is it the 10th round key?
For example, is this the right order?
...
0
votes
1answer
104 views
RSA/DSA: Wouldn't it make sense to sign using decoding the data hash?
Why is encoding using the private key used for signing? Wouldn't it make sense to keep the premise, that private is for decoding and public is for encoding? i.e. create a hash and threat it as a ...
1
vote
2answers
104 views
Standard symbol / notation for “x knows y”, or the inverse
What's the standard way to express "$x$ knows about $y$", or "$x$ has no knowledge of $y$" in cryptographic notation?
Example (PRNG predictor):
$\exists f : P(f(G(k)|_{0..n}) = G(k)|_{n+1}) \geq 0.5 ...
1
vote
2answers
160 views
Brute force a ciphered message?
I wrote my own cipher to encrypt messages. I would like to test a sample ciphered message to see how strong it is. Are there any tools for such task either in Windows or Linux ?
2
votes
2answers
184 views
How can encryption involve randomness?
If an encryption algorithm is meant to convert a string to another string which can then be decrypted back to the original, how could this process involve any randomness?
Surely it has to be ...
1
vote
2answers
242 views
Complexity of ECB and OFB
What is the complexity of ECB in terms of Time and Memory?
and also in OFB? I can't find it in the internet, so I decided to ask it in here.
4
votes
2answers
254 views
After implementing a novel encryption algorithm, how would one go about analyzing its security or get help from others in doing so?
Preface: This question was originally asked on Theoretical Computer Science and later on Computer Science. The kind people on cstheory.SE referred me to this web site. It is being repeated here in an ...
0
votes
2answers
301 views
What is the time complexity of the RC4 encryption & decryption algorithms?
I'm trying to figure out what the time complexity of RC4 encryption & decryption algorithms is, in big-O-notation.
16
votes
5answers
1k views
Current mathematics theory used in cryptography/coding theory
What are the mainstream techniques borrowed from algebraic geometry (or some other branch of mathematics) which are currently used in cryptography/coding theory? I've only heard about a small subset ...
0
votes
1answer
272 views
How do I generate a session key using the Diffie Hellman algorithm?
How to generate a session key between two nodes in two different subnets when the nodes don't know each other directly, using diffie hellman algorithm?
0
votes
0answers
48 views
what is the required protocols to make share the key? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
gererating session key using diffie hellman algorithm?
The first subnet have three nodes (A,B,C) they are connected to second subnet via (C-E), the second subnet consist ...
1
vote
1answer
163 views
0
votes
1answer
181 views
Why does my implementation of CBC mode only decrypt the first block correctly? [closed]
I have the following code that uses a CBC mode to encrypt a text by dividing it to 3-elements block. But it only works correctly on the first block which is xored with the IV.
...
0
votes
0answers
73 views
Is this a secure multiparty protocol?
I am facing the following situation and i am trying to break down the problem into some specific cryptogrphic primitives.
There is a function F that takes as input a bit string and produces a ...
6
votes
2answers
375 views
Hash decrypts key, key decrypts cipher… why?
I noticed recently that a couple of pieces of encryption software (TrueCrypt being one of them) don't directly use a hash of the password as the key for the block cipher. Instead, they generate a ...
4
votes
1answer
186 views
Is it secure to use the hash of key as the IV in AES encryption?
I need to store some sensitive data for a program. For each copy of the program, there will be a unique key for encrypting one (and only one) file using AES encryption (OFB). The key will not be ...
0
votes
2answers
69 views
Encrypting documents through a proxy key
Suppose I'm developing an app to secure a lot of documents. These documents were encrypted (say, using AES) with a key X.
This key X is basically the password that the user enters before wanting to ...
0
votes
0answers
223 views
How to calculate a key for Hill Cipher? [closed]
I need an easy way to calculate 3X3 key matrix to encrypt a 256 characters text ?
48
votes
10answers
3k views
Is modern encryption needlessly complicated?
RSA, DES, AES, etc. all use (relatively) complicated mathematics to encrypt some message with some key. For each of these methods, there have been several documented vulnerabilities found over the ...
2
votes
1answer
169 views
Finding a solution to a (sort of) discrete logarithm by asking questions
Let $p = kq + 1$ and $q$ be primes such that $log$ $q = n$, $log$ $k = n$ and such that the bit size of every prime factor of $k$ is bounded
by $log$ $n$. Let $g$ be a generator of the unique ...
2
votes
0answers
133 views
Safe generator for ElGamal signature
What are the properties a generator $g$ should have to be secure for ElGamal signatures (original scheme)?
I am aware that it is poorly chosen and not secure when $g|p-1$ or $g^{-1}|p-1$, where $p$ ...
2
votes
1answer
229 views
DGK Cryptosystem Encryption Speedup
Following @poncho's nice clarification of the RSA speedup here, let's see if I'm able to do the same in the case of the DGK cryptosystem:
We have pk = (n, g, h, u), sk = (p, q, $v_p$, $v_q$) which ...
2
votes
0answers
75 views
XSLT tranform in xmlsignature form, a part of xmldocument? [closed]
I have a HTML page(A Form) where user will enter his details. Details to enter are NameagesalarystateCity Now when user enters all details and click Button then I will create xml file containing the ...
-2
votes
1answer
534 views
Cryptography for kids [closed]
My daughter has been playing on the NSA's web page called CryptoKids but I was wondering if there is anything else out there that is may be more challenging to a nine year old.
Books are good, ...
2
votes
2answers
256 views
Lamport signature: How many signatures are need to forge a signature?
Lamport signature: Signing the message Note that now Alice's private key is used and should never be used again. The other 256 random numbers that she did not use for the signature she must never ...
3
votes
0answers
216 views
Why do new versions of TLS use an explicit IV for CBC suites?
SSL 3.0 and TLS 1.0 used an insecure scheme to generate implicit IVs when encrypting records in CBC mode: They used the last part of the previous record, a value that can be predicted by the attacker. ...
3
votes
1answer
323 views
Does the Biclique attack on AES pose a credible risk to its security?
I have heard a lot about the biclique cryptanalysis research on AES, which as far as I know is the closest anyone has got to breaking AES.
Exactly how close did they get? Does this attack propose a ...
3
votes
3answers
405 views
What is the relation between Discrete Log, Computational Diffie-Hellman and Decisional Diffie-Hellman?
How are the three problems Discrete Logarithm, Computational Diffie-Hellman and Decisional Diffie-Hellman related?
From my understanding, since the Discrete Log (DL) Problem is considered hard, then ...
1
vote
2answers
730 views
How to perform file encryption using 128-Bit AES?
I am confused, how can I encrypt a file using 128 Bit Advanced Encryption Standard?
Do I need only to encrypt the file name and it's content or is there something that I need to do to encrypt it? Is ...
3
votes
1answer
329 views
Advanced Encryption Standard Algorithm Secret Key
just a follow up question with this question..
How does the key schedule of Rijndael looks for keysizes other than 128 bit?
A 256-bit key can still encrypt a block of plaintext in 128 bit?
but in ...
1
vote
8answers
460 views
Does a public key absolutely need to be used to initiate an encrypted session?
I am a software developer working on an application with the .NET platform. This application needs to provide a secure connection and encrypt all data between the client and the server. It is a ...
