All Questions

46 views

What is the importance of adding round key in AES

I know this may not be the place to ask this but I have found it difficult to find an answer to this question. I know the steps of the AES encryption algorithm but I am finding it difficult to ...
33 views

Epsilon Differential Privacy when using a random function [closed]

First of all, this is homework. I have a question that wants me to prove the following: Given a Database X, where x_i is {0,1} and an Algorithm A that randomly chooses an i and returns x_i, I need to ...
198 views

Difference between Hash function and Random Oracle

Going through the blog post, I was under the impression that any cryptographic scheme which makes use of hash function is said to be using random oracle. But, I have come across one construction of ...
35 views

Can one deduce the symmetric key size used to encrypt a given a piece of ciphertext?

Assume an attacker captures a piece of ciphertext encrypted with a symmetric key. He knows all the details of the algorithm used to encrypt except for the size of the key used in this case. Can he ...
100 views

Key management protocol for end-to-end security on Advanced Metering Infrastructure

I am currently working on a research on end-to-end security implementation for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI). Pardon me if I a bit off topic or not asking the right question as I am ...
20k views

Suppose Alice wants to send encryptions (under a one-time pad) of $m_1$ and $m_2$ to Bob over a public channel. Alice and Bob have a shared key $k$; however, both messages are the same length as the ...
27 views

Integrity protection in wireless sensor networks [closed]

I have done a lab about wireless sensor nodes and got in touch with encryption for the very first time. There are some questions on my sheet, especially on integrity protection (the attacker wants to ...
48 views

Problem with implementing DES in python

i'm implementing DES in python and i've stumbled upon a problem i can't really find the problem, after debugging it i narrowed it down to this function, can anyone tell me if i'm implementing the DES ...
30 views

Unique assignment of X.509 certificate to each client

I'm trying to implement a short scale electronic voting application in a domain comprised of no more than 100 clients. System administrator is able to create new election instances and each client is ...
104 views

How much (home PC) CPU time is required to generate a prime number of a given size?

How much CPU time is required on a typical home computer to generate a prime number of size 100 bit, 200 bit , 512 bit and 1024 bit using given random bits of the respective sizes? Please note that ...
68 views

Strength of RSA with OAEP

In our current system we use an encryption solution based on RSA with OAEP padding. Key size is optional but default 2048. What is the general strength of RSA with OAEP? Are there know attacks that ...
64 views

Is there a client-side program to cryptography a HTML page and decode if correct password is writen? [closed]

I want to know if there is an easy way to do this: create a complete HTML page cryptography the text content (image is not important) ask user some password check the password with a cryptographed ...
42 views

What is the algorithm behind PasswordDeriveBytes?

Microsoft has created an implementation of PBKDF1 in the PasswordDeriveBytes class. It can however generate more bytes than PBKDF1, which is limited to the number ...
52 views

What is the difficulty of DLP in GF(P^Q) with a subgroup with a prime order of L

Given a finite field GF(P^Q), having a subgroup with a prime order of L (P,Q,L are all primes), how difficult is it to find the discrete log, is it related to P and Q or is it related to L, or to ...
49 views

Using hash of plaintext as nonce in NaCl secretbox- bad idea?

I need a nonce to encrypt my stuff using NaCl secretbox. I will be transmitting the nonce along with the ciphertext, which I have been told is OK to do. It occurs to me that one could simply use the ...
63 views

Is changing $H(R\mathbin{\Vert}A\mathbin{\Vert}M)$ to $H(R\mathbin{\Vert}A\mathbin{\Vert}H(M))$ in EdDSA secure?

EdDSA calculates $s=(r+H(R\mathbin{\Vert}A\mathbin{\Vert}M)\cdot a)\bmod\ell$ and $r=H(h\mathbin{\Vert}M)$, with $H$ being the hash function (SHA2/512); $B$ being the generator; $A$ being the public ...
42 views

Where are the ChaCha20 test vectors/examples?

I see in the Salsa20 specification there are test examples throughout the document to help an implementer make sure every function works as designed. Consequently the whole algorithm would work ...
101 views

Base64 with shuffled alphabet

I have a base64 'cipher' text, I know that in clear text is a hidden xml document (I do not know nothing about its structure), but the base64 aplhabet was somehow shuffled. Is there any smart way, how ...
95 views

Isn't the security of EC curve 25519 126 bits?

The security of the EC25519 is given as 128 bits, but since the order of the group is 252 bits shouldn't the security be 126 bits? Given as half the magnitude of the underlying field, since DLP ...
433 views

P = NP and current cryptographic systems

I've recently heard some people claiming that if the fact that P = NP is proven, most (all?) the current cryptographic algorithm considered secure like RSA will be unusable in secure systems. My ...
15 views

Question about the Theta step of Keccak

In the question What criteria make the theta step of Keccak's round function reversible?, poncho said that:In the Keccak case, the actual value of z=64 is not a multiple of L(5), and hence θ is ...
90 views

Blowfish ECB mode: Tools for known-plaintext attack?

I'm currently dealing with multiple blowfish-encrypted files that share the same key. All are encrypted using ECB mode judging from their appearance. I don't know what the key is but I know 64 byte ...
24 views

Effect of CFB IV reuse

If an Initialization Vector (IV) is reused (under the same encryption key) in Cipher Feedback Mode (CFB), what is the effect upon security? I know there is some negative effect upon security, but I ...
73 views

Key derivation of public key without knowledge of private key?

I'm looking for a convenient way to share a set of public keys across multiple services, while preserving privacy by preventing these services from tying the identity of these public key sets together ...
297 views

What criteria make the theta step of Keccak's round function reversible?

From what I've been reading, Keccak's round function is reversible. That's pretty obvious for the $\rho$, $\pi$ and $\iota$ transforms. For $\chi$ to be reversible, $x$'s range has to be odd — but ...
36 views

How to implement the Salsa20 hash function?

I am currently implementing Salsa20 from the specification as an exercise in learning and self-flagellation. I have Sections 1-7 passing the test examples provided. I am now stuck on Section 8, The ...
121 views

Timelock puzzle improvment

I came across this question with this answer about a cryptographic timelock-puzzle that needs approximately 30 years to be solved. There is also an explanation with source code for that puzzle ...
99 views

Is it possible to use structures other than finite fields?

I have some difficulties to understand why we are using finite fields in cryptography. Why do we use field? Why not ring or group? Is that really necessary that the field is finite? Why not real ...
296 views

Can you help me with this Random Number Generator function?

By someone's suggestion, I am posting this question from math.stackexchange.com. I want to find out a suitable function or algorithm, which can provide a random sequence like this… Input: $3$ ...
5 views

Point of elliptic curve [migrated]

How can we calculate the multiple of a point of an elliptic curve? For example having the elliptic curve $y^2=x^3+x^2-25x+39$ and the point $P=(21, 96)$. To find the point $6P$ is the only way to ...
29 views

I am studying for network security exam. And in the slide about Key Management, under a heading Key Verification I see this: Key Verification Almost all cryptographic algorithms have some weak keys ...
442 views

What is the SSL private key file format?

I was researching about how to encrypt with RSA. I understood everything but not the format of the private keys. In the phpseclib (RSA in PHP), you can import your private key (private.key format) ...
36 views

Remove padding (CBC) from decrypted text

I have a bit problem with padding. Everything goes fine when I encrypt the text BUT when I decrypt I see some extra characters. Sometime's one character sometimes more and I dont know how to remove ...
993 views

Why is the private key generated first in public key crypto?

I'm still new to public key crypto. I'm trying to understand how it is that the private key is generated first in public key crypto? I would have expected the private and public key to be generated at ...
113 views

Storing AES encrypted RSA private keys on a server

I'm thinking about creating an encrypted messaging web application where users create RSA key pairs, they store the public key on the server for others to see and also store an AES encrypted private ...
50 views

if a number is said to be a subgroup of a quadratic residue of Z∗p, can I affirm that it is a generator of a cyclic group ? ie, say i am looking for a number which is an element of order q in Z*p, ...
74 views

CBC with a fixed or random IV

I have two probably quite naive questions: 1) Why, exactly, is it so bad to have a fixed (or predictable) IV in CBC mode? An example would be great! 2) Given 1), why is a random IV better? And if ...
100 views

Which block cipher mode does the experts use? [closed]

I want to know which "block cipher mode of operation" does the experts use? I don't want to use ECB or CBC because add padding and padding mess up my code. So which one does the experts use. /Thanks ...
31 views

Many Time Attack [closed]

How i can XOR these two cipher texts encrypted by using same key First ...
55 views

Are there any known inverse hash lookups for the zero string?

Just wondering, are there any known inverse hashes / hash lookups in common hashes (md5, sha1, sha2, etc.) for the zero string hash value? (i.e. bytes 0x00 00 00 00 00 ...) Or more specifically, for ...
14k views

How does asymmetric encryption work?

I've always been interested in encryption but I have never found a good explanation (beginners explanation) of how encryption with public key and decryption with private key works. How does it ...
128 views

Difference between statistical PRNG and cryptographic PRNG?

What's the difference between a statistical pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) and a cryptographic-strength PRNG? I've seen a lot of PRNGs that are proposed for statistical uses -- e.g., ...
179 views

Symmetric encryption is no longer necessary?

Here is it: Symmetric encryption is no longer necessary, because all security services can be implemented with public-key cryptography. Moreover, in public key cryptography the operations for ...
52 views

How secure is file header encryption for large files?

I'm having trouble location information about whether or not encrypting a file's header is good enough. The files in question are media files that range in size from 500mb to 4GB. If I had no ...
121 views

I have a construction that requires as primitive an Additively Homomorphic Encryption scheme that does not rely on hidden group order, meaning I can't use Paillier. I now have two different ...
31 views

Discrepancy with reported key size for EDE ciphers in Qualys SSL Labs

The following two cipher suites were reported by Qualys SSL Labs as being 112-bit: SSL_CK_DES_192_EDE3_CBC_WITH_MD5 TLS_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA However, all other references I can find say that ...
225 views

Feistel cipher vs Substitution-permutation network - number of rounds

So I have been doing for the last couple of days comparison between Feistel cipher and Substitution-permutation network. Now I can say I know a lot about them and their similarities and differences ...
640 views

Kryptos : K2. What is the origin of the “abscissa” keyword?

I'm studying the Kryptos sculpture with its cryptographic puzzles K1 to K4. Similar to the "palimsest" keyword for K1, the keyword "abscissa" for K2 was determined by brute-force. To better ...
If I have a group $\mathcal{G}$ of order $N=npq$ and subgroups $\mathcal{G_n,G_p,G_q}$ of order $n$, $p$, $g$ respectively and if $g$ is a generator of $\mathcal{G}$ why then $g^{nq}$ is a generator ...