# All Questions

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### How do we solve Shammir 2,3 sharring scheme where arithmetic is modulo?

I am trying to get secret S and I have 3 values (2,2)(6,3)(4,9) and know that modulo is 13. I tried using Lagrange basis polynomial and got 8 but I am not sure if that is right and also I cannot find ...
98 views

### Are EC public/private keys significantly weakened by having a known byte?

I would like to use different EC keys for different purposes in an app, and I would like to easily see the purpose for which particular key (pair) was generated. With ~65K attempts, I can generate a ...
176 views

### Block Cipher Without Key Schedule?

I'm designing a cryptography assignment for a college security course, and one of the problems is to perform a simple meet-in-the-middle attack on a 2-round, 2-key cipher. Since we want this to be a ...
69 views

### Multiplication in elliptical curve cryptography

I'm practising for a cryptography test and came across this question: Let us assume that for a specific elliptic curve the formulas for the computation of $(x_3, y_3)=R+S$ are given by: ...
64 views

### Unknown authenticated encryption mode

I'm running through a protocol specification (LoRaWAN, pdf), and I'm puzzled by the crypto. The data is encrypted and authenticated in the following way: a unique 128-bit key is used; the plaintext ...
110 views

### Pseudorandom Functions with different input and output lengths

I am working on a problem found in my Cryptography textbook that goes as follows: Let F be a pseudorandom function such that for $k \in \{0,1\}^n$, function $F_k$ maps $l_{in}(n)$-inputs to ...
75 views

### How to key an HMAC with keys from separate mutually untrusted parties?

The problem is as follows: There are two parties, both of whom would like to HMAC a message with a key. Although the keys are known to one another, both parties do not trust that the other one ...
108 views

### Proving that a node is the only child

Say I have a graph of messages like this: A | B / \ C D By including the parent hash in the message to be hashed I can show that B is a child of A, ...
51 views

### Symmetric encryption with compression for MySQL DB data

I would like to compress data before encrypting and storing it in a MySQL DB to reduce especially bandwith requirements (compression reduces bandwith by 70-80%). At present, all is handled by a ...
64 views

### Having doubt in Rijndael Algorithm- coding for decryption

I am doing a project on the Rijndael Algorithm. I have already written the encryption code which produces the correct output. Now I want to implement decryption as well. I'm doing using VHDL, ...
92 views

### Find plaintext from two ciphers encrypted with a one-time pad and the same key

I'm studying for a cryptography test and I came across this question: Assume a language has three letters: A=1111, B=0011 and C=1010. Two words in this language are encrypted with a one-time pad ...
87 views

### How were semagrams encrypted in the pre-digital era?

Historically messages in languages that use alphabets have been encrypted manually according to some kind of algorithm (e.g. mono- and poly-alphabetic ciphers). But how wew messages encrypted in a ...
51 views

### equation of mixcolumn in the aes field

$c(y) = (03)y^3 + (01) y^2 + (01) y + (02)$ Let $d = (01)b$ in the AES field $GF(2^8)$. Provide exact equations for the bits $d_i, 0 \leq i \leq 7$, in terms of the bits $b_i$ of b. Can ...
136 views

### Double randomised HMAC verification to prevent timing attack

A way to prevent timing attacks for hash string comparison is to perform additional HMAC signing in order to randomize the verification process (see Double HMAC Verification). In addition to the ...
44 views

### How to calculate Enc(-m) from Enc(m) in Paillier cryptosystem?

The encryption in Paillier cryptosystem is like this according to Wikipedia: Let $m$ be a message to be encrypted where $m \in \mathbb{Z}_n$ Select random $r$ where $r \in \mathbb{Z}_n^*$ Compute ...
241 views

### I read ECB is bad because the same plaintext outputs the same ciphertext. Isn't that a requirement of a cipher?

In the Wikipedia article on Block Ciphers, it says about the Electronic Code Block mode: The disadvantage of this method is that identical plaintext blocks are encrypted into identical ...
697 views

### Would it be better to split a file and then encrypt, or vice versa?

Assuming that you're paranoid before storing your file (distributed across a shared location), which will be the best case scenario: splitting the file first and then encrypting or encrypting first ...
88 views

### All the affine points on the curve

I have calculated the affine points on the curve $x^2 + y^2 = 1 − 3x^2y^2$ over the field ${\mathbb{Z}}_{11}.$ Using $y^2 = \frac{1-x^2}{1+3x^2}$ I got the following points: ...
233 views

### Can Grover's Algorithm be combined with a meet-in-the-middle attack?

We all know and love the meet-in-the-middle attack which basically makes double encryption pointless using a time-memory-tradeoff. Now there was recently the recommendation by the NSA to use double ...
214 views

### Signature to prove of ownership of arbitrary sized data

I am familiar with public key signatures, but I was wondering if there is a method to accomplish the following. Suppose I publish a file (say a PDF article) on a peer to peer network. How can I ...
109 views

### Is md5(x)&md5(y&x) secure?

I was wondering if the following hash function f(x) := md5(x) & md5('abc'&x) (with & as concatenation operator) is secure. This schema can be even ...
52 views

### What is the most an adversary can do in the context of public key masquerading?

Suppose two parties A and B are using a public-key encryption scheme in order to communicate securely. A and B both have a public/private key pair: $$A: (P_A, S_A), B: (P_B, S_B)$$ and A already ...
55 views

### How does Intel TXT prevent spoofing of PCR values?

I have read some content on trusted execution environment, and I like to ask exactly how it improves hashing. What I read at Wikipedia’s “Trusted Execution Technology” article states: ...PCRs) ...
187 views

### How is “post-quantum security” proven/shown?

Due to growing concerns over the threat of quantum computing to asymmetric cryptography (RSA, ECC, etc), a number of "quantum resistant" replacements have been proposed (SPHINCS, McBits, and many ...
197 views

### One Time Pads and reuse of the decrypted message?

How is it insecure when Alice encrypts a message with a One-Time-Pad to Bob, and Bob then uses the decrypted message from Alice as the next One-Time-Pad? For example: Alice sends Bob a message ...
226 views

### RSA reconstructing private key knowing MSBs

PREMISE: This question is purely theoretical because usually an attacker will not know private exponent d and can't compare it with obtained MSB bytes. Suppose an RSA 1024 bit signature. An attacker ...
124 views

### (Lightweight) Multicast one-way Authentication

Problem: I'm thinking about a lightweight solution to provide source authentication (only one source) to multiple receivers (multicast message). Context: Taking the problem to ground, we can think ...
55 views

### Is it possible to combine cryptography with steganography [closed]

Definitions: M - original message, Me - encrypted message M, S - watermark message, Ms - message M with steganography watermark S, e - encryption private key, d - decryption key (it is private too), s ...
114 views

### Obtain Enigma key having a encrypted text and the plain text

I have an Enigma message and I know what the original message is (a repetition of the same letter). Is it possible obtain the enigma key? I only know what kind of Enigma machine is it, but I need to ...
50 views

### Symmetric-like cyphers with several steps

Are there any good symmetric-ish cyphers that involve three or more steps with independent key material for each step? Formally, there should be a function $K(s)$ that returns a tuple $(k_1,..,k_n)$ ...
187 views

### Parity of an encrypted key

Does encrypting a double-length 3DES application key (that has an odd parity) under a double-length 3DES zone master key (also with an odd parity) affect the parity of the application key?
52 views

### XTS-AES key management

XTS-AES uses two keys $(k_1, k_2)$, which are obtained from a concatenated key $k$. Does this key $k$ remain same for the whole disk or changes per sector?
61 views

### Re-sending captured encrypted data

Let’s assume Bob is some algorithmic stock trading machine. Bob takes commands from Alice, who sends messages to Bob. For example: Alice could be sending a message to Bob to stop trading. But if ...
111 views

### Fast reduction in $GF(2^{128})$ using x86 PCLMULQDQ

Modern x86 CPUs support the PCLMULQDQ instruction, which does an XOR-multiply of two 64-bit numbers instead of an add-multiply (i.e. typical arithmetic ...
239 views

### Simple digital signature example that one could compute without a computer?

I am working on a document to explain Bitcoin to students. But I am having a hard time translating the principle described in §2 of the Bitcoin whitepaper in layman's terms. There is a great question ...
248 views

### File encryption using per-user-encrypted shared key

So I'm looking to encrypt files using AES CTR, using a shared key which would be accessed via a per-user password. My two main concerns are: - making sure that the algorithms in use are appropriate ...
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### How bad is it to use the identity function as hash for ECDSA?

I was recently asked whether a certain library supports the ECDSAwithNone Signature algorithm. Clearly this would mean ECDSA with the identity function as the hash function. I know this is a really ...
322 views

### Is there an additively homomorphic encryption scheme that supports calculating a square root on the ciphertext?

I need an additively homomorphic encryption scheme that satisfies: $D(\sqrt{E(m)}) \approx \sqrt{m}$. It seems that the lifted ElGamal satisfies this, but it is hard to do decryption if the message ...
60 views

### Multiplication in GF(2^8)

I am trying to multiply 13 (sub 16) and 11 (sub 16) in $GF(2^8)$. I am given the following irreducible polynomial: P(x) = x^8 + x^4 + x^3 + x +1 Could someone explain to me how to express the ...
84 views

### Degree of M and Max Sequence Length for LFSR

For the LFSR mod 2, determine the degree of m and maximum sequence length s_(i+3)≡ s_i+s_(i-2)+s_(i-4) mod 2 determine the degree of m and the maximum ...
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### What is the 'identity function' in AES?

I'm trying to understand how AES works. I got as far as knowing how a password is converted to an unifinished key with the PBKDF2 function. After that RFC3962 says that an AES useable key most be ...
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### Galois Field ($2^{16}$) for encryption in place of $GF(2^8)$ in AES

AES algorithm is using $GF(2^8)$ Galois Field. What if we use $GF(2^{16})$ in place of $GF(2^8)$? Will this improve the algorithm or not?
107 views

### Can j-invariants be used to decide which elliptic curves are suiteable for cryptography?

The j-invariants classify the elliptic curves up to isomorphisms (if we suppose to work in the algebraic closure). Is this classification used in some way to decide whether or not an elliptic curve ...
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### How to compromise the privacy of NaCl encrypted messages, when nonce is reused?

I want to know to how break NaCl encryption when a nonce used more than once for a given key private key. According to PyNaCl docs: It is VITALLY important that the nonce is a nonce, i.e. it is a ...
171 views

### Is there a way to prove equality of plaintext that was encrypted using different public keys?

Imagine if Alice encrypts message to Bob (using public key $P_{bob}$) and then Bob encrypts the same message to Carol (using $P_{carol}$). Is there a way for Bob to prove that: $P_{carol}$ was ...
191 views

### How to prove knowledge of discrete logarithm in a product?

Definitions Suppose I have two large safe primes $p$ and $q$, and a composite number $N=pq$. I have $G$, a large cyclic subgroup of $\mathbb{Z}^{*}_{N}$; $g$ and $h$ are generators of $G$. I commit ...
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### Designing an AES-based protocol for controlling and acessing ioT boards via RF

I'm designing an open ioT protocol to be used on ioT boards based on Texas Instruments RF-based MCUs. These MCUs have an AES module to easily encrypt and decrypt AES content, so that's why I choose a ...
124 views

### Algorithm to transform plaintext to a key of desired keysize, when using input plaintext as key for FPE?

Using a format preserving encryption scheme that uses AES internally as its block cipher, for a plaintext that I encrypt I want to use that input plaintext as the key. However using AES-128, my ...