# All Questions

591 views

### Can hashing become encrypting?

hashing some data and encrypting data share some similar attributes. Surely this is why "Difference between encrypting something and hashing something" has been asked. The point of this question is ...
315 views

### Should I bother implementing DH + AES, or leave it to a library like Crypto++

I'm making a C++ back end for an application that'll heavily rely on AES-256 and DH. Should I trust third party libraries, or spend (lots of) time to learn about cryptographic implementation and write ...
267 views

### Can anyone give an example where (asymmetric) crypto can go wrong due to selection of wrong groups?

Basically the title says it all. It would be great if someone could tell give an example using provable security. More information about groups can be found at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Group_(...
3k views

### How to find generator $g$ in a cyclic group?

As generator $g$ is used in DH how do you find a combination of prime $p$ and $g$? eg: if we choose $p=23$ and its generator is $7$ (given in the book) how do we find the generator?
377 views

### Can cryptography be used to hide routing information from the router?

If Alice wants to talk to Bob and she has to involve a third party system run by Carol to establish, and possibly maintain, communications, then Carol knows that Alice and Bob communicated with each ...
438 views

### Knowing a valid salted hash for an unknown secret, is it possible to compute another valid hash?

$H(s,r)=d$ is a function that hashes the secret string $s$ with a salt $r$, and returns a digest $d$. $r$ may be arbitrarily chosen and each $r$ returns a different $d$. For any $d$, $r$ is known from ...
1k views

### Can SRP be used with Elliptic Curves?

I'm sure it can, because SRP (secure remote protocol) can be implemented everywhere where Diffie-Hellman works, but I need a proof to put this aspect into Wikipedia. Edit: ok, can it be at least ...
4k views

### Hill Cipher known plaintext attack

I know a plaintext - ciphertext couple of length 6 for a hill cipher where its key is a [3x3] matrix. Based on what I've read and learned, to attack and crack keys of [n x n], if we know a plaintext -...
2k views

### What algorithm would give the shortest ciphertext for very short plaintexts?

I have to encrypt some very short messages (approx. 5 characters) and I would like the ciphertext to be as short as possible. I am currently using AES but the initialization vector (IV) is making my ...
440 views

### Is this “layered” XOR cipher secure?

I am aware of the vulnerabilities of simple xor ciphers and recently I came across a block cipher that claims to solve those vulnerabilities. The cipher goes as follows with both the block and key ...
985 views

### Two different keys decrypting same content

is there some generally available algorithm which will encrypt a short string and generate two unique keys so that any of the two can be used to decrypt the message again? It doesn't has to be "super ...
5k views

### Why is HMAC-SHA1 still considered secure?

This Q & A http://security.stackexchange.com/questions/33123/hotp-with-as-hmac-hashing-algoritme-a-hash-from-the-sha-2-family says that the security of HMAC-SHA1 does not depend on resistance to ...
718 views

### Alternative to NSA encryption algorithm

I am looking for a strong alternative to elliptic curve cryptography. It should be something that could face quantum computing attacks, but nothing created by the NSA. I heard about isogeny key ...
4k views

### Why is a 2048-bit public RSA key represented by 540 hexadecimal characters in X.509 Certificates?

In the public certificate, an RSA public key specified as 2048 bits long is represented by 540 hexadecimal characters. Converted to base-2, this yields 2160 bits, 112 more than the stated 2048.
402 views

### Discrete log problem, when we have many examples

Suppose I have many instances of the discrete log problem, all using the same unknown exponent. Is this problem easier than the standard discrete log problem? Oh, heck, I should be more precise. ...
217 views

### Is a random length-extension worth the effort?

I'm conceiving an application that uses cryptographic tools and concepts for securing data. I know that's difficult and risky, therefore I prefer to ask around before implementing anything. When ...
1k views

### What is the likely cause the RSA algorithm gives back plain text in this case?

Text book question of Chapter 9 of "Crypto and Network Security" by William Stallings: When using the RSA Algorithm — if a small number of repeated encodings give back the plain text, what is the ...
909 views

### What is the smallest plaintext/ciphertext size for an algorithm like?

When I read about a choosen plaintext attack, for example on AES the block size is always 128 bits, does it mean the attacker will only supply 128 bits data words as "plain text" ?
58 views

### Order-Preserving Encryption (OPE) and leakage

I recently came across OPE and Order-Revealing Encryption (ORE), but I didn't exactly got the idea why they are important. What's exactly important about them? Are they actually used in practice? My ...
211 views

### Can the SHA256 hashes of consecutive integers be attacked?

Suppose that the attacker knows the SHA256 values of integers $n, n+1, n+2 ... n+k$. $n$ is sufficiently big, so we do not expect to be able to brute force $n$ just by $\operatorname{SHA256}(n)$ ...
466 views

### How is the message digest related to Signatures and Encryption?

I was studying about 'Data Security' and I found out this one thing confusing. What is an message digest? I got it is the hash of the message. Is the message here referring to the plaintext or ...
331 views

### Homomorphism and Zero Knowledge in FIPS 140-2 compliant systems

I am analyzing a system that needs to be at least level 3 FIPS 140-2 compliant. The system may leverage from homomorphic and Zero Knowledge constructs, but, as far as I can see, the algorithms ...
125 views

### Name and security of these non-invertible functions?

I would like to learn more about a specific set of non invertible functions: The function should accept 2 inputs: one hidden and the other visible. The output and the function should also be visible....
193 views

### In a group, is it hard to calculate the base $g$ given $g^a$ and $a$?

Discrete logarithm, that is: calculate $a$ given $g$ and $g^a$, is assumed to be a hard problem in some groups. Is it also hard to calculate $g$ given $g^a$ and $a$?
160 views

### CSPRNG that cannot be used as random extractor

Are there any specific CSPRNG's that cannot be used as randomness extractor within a TRNG? In other words, can you simply provide enough entropy gathered from a good entropy source as seed in any ...
406 views

### Exactly two of the four roots must be greater than N/2

Theorem: Let $y$ be a quadratic residue in $\mathbb{Z}_N$* where $N=pq$. There are exactly four integers $x_1, x_2, x_3, x_4$ where $0 < x_1 < x_2 < \frac{N}{2} < x_3 < x_4 < N$ ...
431 views

### Construct an encryption algorithm using hash function [duplicate]

We know that Cryptographic hash function is generally a one-way function where we can't retrieve the original message. On the other hand, encryption is a two-way-function where we get the original ...
408 views

### What prevents a padding standard to cause a data loss?

In here different byte padding standards are listed as ANSI X.923, ISO 101.26, PKCS7, ISO/IEC 7816-4 and zero padding. All of them seems to apply padding to the last byte blocks. Odds are rare but ...
255 views

### Do deterministic secret sharing schemes exist?

Are there algorithms for secure secret sharing such that the algorithm depends solely on the value being secured, relying on no randomness in its calculations. If there aren't, is such an algorithm ...
204 views

### Is a simple stream cipher “partially homomorphic” if no integrity check is applied?

My understanding is that, simply put, a stream cipher is just a CSPRNG such that $R(i,k)$ will produce a deterministic but statistically random sequence, where $i$ is an IV, and $k$ is the session key....
286 views

### What is the purpose of update() in popular hash APIs?

E.g., in Python's hashlib, update() basically merges in string buffer functionality into the object. Several other digest APIs I've seen have this pattern. Considering this adds functionality that ...
442 views

### Is it possible to break a hash-based block cipher?

Let's define the following block cipher: $C_n = M_n \oplus H(k + n)$ where $C_n$ is the nth block of ciphertext, $M_n$ is the nth block of plaintext, $H$ is a cryptographic hash function, and $k$ is ...
444 views

### Is there a public key semantically secure cryptosystem for which one can prove in zero knowledge the equivalence of two plaintexts?

If Alice encrypts two messages $a$ and $b$, such that $x=E(a)$, $y=E(b)$. Can Alice prove (without revealing $a$, $b$ or the private key) that $a = b$? Obviously the proof must not be too long and it ...
331 views

### How to encrypt data and know it will be secure for at least a few decades?

I want to encrypt a small amount (few kilobytes) of data and be fairly confident it will be secure against brute force decryption and advances in cryptanalysis for at least a a few decades (or more). ...
501 views

### Is any decent RNG acceptable as a stream cipher?

I have a function f(x,n) that takes a 128-bit key x, and generates n bytes of pseudo-random data. I've tested the output bytes this function for various keys with the NIST RNG testing suite (NIST ...
2k views

### Is RSA in a ECB-like-mode safe for bulk encryption?

Let's say I would like to communicate with my friend using asymmetric/public-key encryption, e.g. RSA. (Note: I do realize that in practice this is done through an intermediate symmetric key, but ...
474 views

### Is it generally possible to employ brute force methods when the encryption scheme is not known? Why or why not?

Lets say you are presented with an encrypted string of bits or text, and no other information. What would be necessary before you could apply brute force methods to decrypting the string? How would a ...
381 views

### Feedback on rolling my own entropy gatherer

First of all, I don't recommend doing this. This was something I created when I didn't know better and didn't have a solution available to me. Long ago I created my own entropy gather for a ...
668 views

### What is the appropriate public key encryption for secure coin flipping?

I quote Bobby's question here since I encountered the same one... Random Coin Flip using ElGamal and a Trusted Party Consider the following protocol for two parties to flip a fair coin. Trusted ...
1k views

### public key cryptography and digital signature

I read the following from Understanding Public Key Cryptography on Microsoft TechNet: Using a private key to establish identity shows that the full encryption and decryption operation was ...
887 views

### Is public-key cryptography the only option in this scenario?

Two parties: a client and a server are to a agree on a symmetric key. Both the client and the server are aware of a master password. The way this is currently done ...
98 views

### Recover elliptic curve order from ECDSA signatures

I need the elliptic curve order to recover the private key from two signed messages with ECDSA. What I have: two signatures signed by the private-key I want to get the messages that have been ...
321 views

### Security of the shared secret key for a smart meter (Linky)

Reading the specs of a new electricity smart meter (called Linky in France), I was surprised about the chosen encryption method (128 bits symmetric key AES), based on a single secret key (called CCC ...
97 views

### Do we have anyway of knowing if avoiding self-permutation in RC4 makes it any stronger?

OK, so lots of questions get asked about RC4 but I want to make mine specific and hopefully answerable. RC4 Design as I'm sure anyone reading this knows, uses self permutation in stage 1 of the KSA. ...
546 views

### Curve25519 vs “Million Dollar Curve”

Quoting from the Million Dollar Curve website: By using publicly verifiable randomness produced in February 2016 by many national lotteries from all around the world, we propose to generate a ...
441 views

### Can an ephemeral RSA key give forward secrecy?

Suppose party A generates an ephemeral RSA key and sends the public key to B. Party B then generates a symmetric key, encrypts it with Party A's public key and sends the Ciphertext to Party A. Party ...
211 views

### 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 ...
207 views

### Reasons for components of AES

I started reading "Cryptography: theory and practice" by Stinson, and I am trying to understand the reason behind the choices for the different components of AES since they seem quite arbitrary. In ...