# All Questions

1answer
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### Rogue CA Certificate MD5 Collision Control

Papers from Marc Stevens et al show that X509 certificates that rely on MD5 signatures can break the assumed security model, that is, it allows for a forged certificate to have the same signature as a ...
2answers
161 views

### paradox on fully homomorphic equality checking

Imagine, a client encrypts a corpus of data (say documents of text) with the public key of a Fully Homomorphic Encryption scheme (FHE) and outsources the data to an untrusted server.Now the client ...
1answer
82 views

### Problem reproducing AES results

First of all, I just implemented AES because I wanted to understand how it works and as a challenge to see if I could do it and I won't use to encrypt anything important, ever. The (German) Wikipedia ...
1answer
101 views

### Using HMAC as a nonce with AES-CTR encrypt-and-MAC

Suppose I use the following encrypt-and-MAC construction: $E(k_1, k_2, n, m) = E_\text{AES256-CTR}(k_1, n, m) \| \text{HMAC-SHA256}(k_2, m)$, where: $k_1$ and $k_2$ are 256-bit keys $n$ ...
1answer
168 views

### 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 ...
1answer
77 views

### How can there be AES-256-GCM, when GCM is defined for 128-sized blocks?

In both node.js and OpenSSL, I am seeing cipher "aes-256-gcm". However, in NIST Special Publication 800-38D, that defines GCM, I am reading: The underlying block cipher shall be approved, the ...
1answer
69 views

### Fully homomorphic encryption arbitrary functions formulation

I am currently studying the interesting field of homomorphic encryption. I read that from a fully homomorphic encryption function that supports both addition and multiplication you can perform any ...
0answers
41 views

### Unbreakable encryption [duplicate]

I am a newbie, I know that I must be wrong, but I need a good explanation. How is it possible to break a cryptographic algorithm created by me, when only I know the algorithm and the key for ...
1answer
75 views

### Which hash function is usually used in RSA?

I know there are several available, however I can't seem to find whether there is one standard one or not. I think I understand the process of digital signatures, just wondering which has function is ...
1answer
64 views

### Cryptographic hash with ability to ignore specific bits based on a hidden pattern?

I'm looking to use password-style hashing to validate an environment, where some parts may be irrelevant. For example: ...
2answers
103 views

### Multiple NTRU public keys for the same private key?

An NTRU public key is generated essentially by multiplying the inverse of a polynomial $f$ by a polynomial $g$. The polynomial $f$ is the private key; $g$ is discarded. My question is: Is it insecure ...
0answers
32 views

### StoredKey in Salted Challenge Response Mechanism (SCRAM)

In SCRAM (RFC5802, page 8) the client generates ClientKey to server, which is a derivation of the original password. This is communicated to the server in a secure ...
0answers
51 views

### User revocation in Identity Based Encryption

I read several papers about user revocation in IBE recently. A common point is that when a user is revoked, some other valid users should also update their private keys. Does this mean that one ...
1answer
134 views

### Help understanding basic Franklin-Reiter related message attack

I am trying to understand this attack at the most basic level. I set up the following basic scenario: Let the public encryption exponent, e = 3. Let p, be some arbitrary but known (to the ...
0answers
29 views

### Edwards / Montgomery ECC over binary extension fields

I recentely had a discussion about the redesign of our ECC code for the library I'm collaborating on and the person I was discussing with came up with Edwards and Montgomery curves over binary ...
1answer
62 views

### Multi-Party Encryption for a Shared Document

Is there an encryption algorithm/protocol where any of a pre-defined set of keys/passwords will succeed in decrypting a document? The number of keys can be fixed, say, 10 or 20 possible passwords. ...
0answers
73 views

### Lattice attacks against Multilinear Maps [CLT13]

I am currently studying an article on a construction of Multilinear maps. There are some attacks on the scheme presented by the authors and I got stuck at the one in section 5.1. I will try to ...
1answer
172 views

### Backdoorable hash function in password database

I want to use a (preferably established) hash function that is backdoorable in a password database. I want to do so because I need password escrow (being able to get the cleartext back. I want to ...
0answers
82 views

### Deletion in RSA Accumulator

I am studying RSA Dynamic Accumulator and I have a question: why is simpler to calculate the new accumulator value after a deletion if is known the secret ϕ(n)? Is possible to calculate the deletion ...
2answers
190 views

### How can I use the whole potential of DES?

I have recently programmed the DES algorithm. Right now it works just with integers (or better to say chars) in the range <0;255>. How can I use its whole potential - using just ASCII would be a ...
1answer
37 views

### Should I authenticate memory data which was loaded from authenticated disk file?

Encrypted fields are loaded from disk file to process memory only after file's HMAC validation is successful. Data is still encrypted in memory and will be decrypted later, on demand, when it needs to ...
0answers
41 views

### Reversible hash function

I met the following 'reversible hash' function applied on a data $d$ consisting of $d_1, \ldots, d_n$ words: $h_0(d) = 0, h_i(d) = c ∗ (d_i + h_{i−1}(d))$, for $0 < i \leq n$. $c$ is a small, odd ...
0answers
76 views

### How to check if a function is significant or not?

f(n) = 1 / ( log n ) ^ 1/2 I know that this function is not negligible because it will never converge to zero even for large values of n. Now my question is, how ...
1answer
388 views

### ECC keys vulnerable to brute force attack?

I have started learning about Elliptic curve cryptography. Since the key size required in ECC is relatively lesser than the key size in RSA to provide the same amount of strong encryptions, I wonder ...
0answers
80 views

### Does the RSA algorithm use repeated squaring?

Simple question: in order to reduce such huge exponents in modular arithmetic, is repeated squaring used in RSA or is there a better way to implement it?
1answer
65 views

### 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 ...
1answer
33 views

### How to force non-negative int64_t output for blowfish encryption with int32_t input?

I would like to encrypt a series of small integers one by one. The range of them is about 0~10^8. The output must be non-negative int64_t integers. Since Blowfish is 64-bit cipher, I prefer to use it ...
1answer
59 views

### Bilinear map assumpion

Is there an assumption that says from a tag $k\cdot e(g,g_1)^{rx}$ ($k,r$ are secret) it is difficult to forge it with some x': $k\cdot e(g,g_1)^{rx'}$, as long as you cannot solve DL in ...
2answers
76 views

### Find plaintext of RSA by solving extended euclidean algorith for two encrptions with two different exponents for same plaintext

This is my homework question (but I am not asking the answer to it): Suppose two users Alice and Bob have the same RSA modulus n and suppose that their encryption exponents eA and eB are ...
1answer
78 views

### Is this MAC scheme secure?

Say we have a computationally secure Message Authentication Code scheme (Gen, Tag, Ver). Let $Tag'_k(m):=$ first half bits of $Tag_k(m)$. Let's assume the range of tags is $n$bits. Is (Gen, Tag', ...
1answer
28 views

### Checking for factor base

In algorithms like Dixon's factorization a factor base is used, which contains all primes below a bound. Then calculates $x^2 \mod n$, and then checks it is in factor base or not. Suppose $P$ is ...
2answers
51 views

### Why do $\alpha$ and the private key value in diffie-hellman should be from $2$ to $p-2$

I just started learning Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange. I couldn't get the reason of making $\alpha$ and private key for Alice and Bob constrained between $2$ and the prime number generated minus $2$ ...
2answers
163 views

### Public key crypto instead of hashing passwords in a database

Suppose I want to keep a client's password database secure (not in plaintext), while still having access to the plaintext password. Now I generates a public/private keypair. Then I send the public ...
1answer
47 views

### how to calculate maximum data size of an RSA signature

I am reading a content, and am not sure if I follow how they come up with the maximum data size which can be signed by an RSA key. The author states: "...if you are trying to sign a message using a ...
2answers
2k views

### Why is PuTTYgen-created RSA public exponent(e) not in {3,17,65537}?

As far as I know, RSA public exponent(e) should be one of {3,17,65537}. However, I found PuTTYgen-created RSA public exponent(e) is 0x25(37) by default,as follows, (PuTTYgen version: 0.66) I am ...
1answer
152 views

### Confused about how chosen ciphertext attacks work?

When performing a CCA, the adversary gets the public key. At some point, he will send a message m to the challenger, and the challenger will send back either $E_{pk}(m)$ or $E_{pk}(r)$, where r is ...
1answer
602 views

### Why do stream ciphers use a nonce?

My question maybe will be stupid, but my problem is that I do not understand why stream ciphers need a key and also a nonce. As far as I understand, the keystream is generated with the nonce. The same ...
2answers
129 views

### Will entropy be lost by using a DRBG?

Lets assume we have a DRGB (deterministic random bit generator) which is seeded by a good true RBG (random bit generator). Before any bit has been read from the DRBG, the entropy is clearly the number ...
0answers
45 views

### Why are the first 4-6 characters from ssh-keygen (RSA) the same everytime? [duplicate]

New to StackExchange, so please bear with the newbie. At my current job we are often creating many ssh keys with ssh-keygen (RSA). One thing I have noticed is that the first few characters (say the ...
0answers
52 views

### How about a homomorphic integer sorting in a MPC context?

I want to implement the ATV-FHE scheme as described by Adriana López-Alt, Eran Tromer, Vinod Vaikuntanathan: On-the-Fly Multiparty Computation on the Cloud via Multikey Fully Homomorphic Encryption ...
0answers
141 views

### How to verify a signature with openssl methods from the ECDSA class?

I'm trying to verify my signature like I explained in my question before. But I have some problems to program my own verification without the verify methods of openssl. Therefore I'm going on to use ...
1answer
54 views

### Truncating ciphertexts on ring-LWE schemes

On the section 5.4 of the paper Improved Security for a Ring-Based Fully Homomorphic Encryption Scheme, the authors explain how to discard some bits of the ciphertexts to get smaller ciphertexts and ...
1answer
97 views

### Can Pseudorandom values be used as secure keys?

I want to derive $n$ keys from a master key. I pick a master key $mk$ and use pseudo-random function (PRF) to generate $n$ pseudo-random values, $v_i=PRF(mk,i)$ where $1\leq i \leq n$. Next, I use ...
0answers
86 views

### Brute force attack multiple stream cipher

Assume that a scheme used to secure a specific system $Π=(Gen,Enc,Dec)$ which is thought have indistinguishable multiple encryption in the presence of an eavesdropper. For any adversary $A$ that can ...
1answer
129 views

### How does non-linearity (S-box) add security to AES?

I'm trying to understand how AES guarentees security. One of the named points on the web is that AES uses a non-linear step (the SubBytes step). But how exactly does the Rijndael key schedule add ...
0answers
52 views

### What followed findings of A. Lenstra et al. concerning shared factors of practical RSA moduli?

A. Lenstra et al. had a paper in 2012 "Ron was wrong, Whit is right", in which one reads: "What surprised us most is that many thousands of 1024-bit RSA moduli, including thousands that are contained ...
0answers
66 views

### How to use a stream cipher to sign a message?

Are there known constructions which allow to sign a message M (let's say it will be sent as clear text) using a stream cipher C and a symmetric secret key K? So, we have M, C, K and we want to send ...
1answer
26 views

### How to calculate $v_k(s)$ in Quadratic Arithmetic Program?

In the paper Pinocchio: Nearly Practical Verifiable Computation, there are some polynomials $v_k(x)$, $w_k(x)$ and $y_k(x)$ representing the structure of there circuit. However, as in the "concrete ...
1answer
73 views

### Taking half of a X bits hash key as secure as using a X/2 bit hash function?

This question comes from a (nitpicking) comment by me in this SO question. I said that using the half of the output from a 256 bit hash function is worse than using a 128 bit hash function. My ...
0answers
39 views

### David Chaum's anonymous credential

I am a newbie in cryptography (I know the basic RSA, AES stuffs) and am interested in anonymous authentication systems. Looks like David Chaum is the godly figure in the field. I see lots of people ...

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