# All Questions

157 views

### Is there a preferred way/standard on how to transmit an initialization vector for AES encryption

Is there a preferred way on how to transmit the initiliazation vector with witch AES encryption was made? I could imagine that, if the encrypted data is stored to a file, the IV is preppended at the ...
140 views

### Do practical key-less cryptosystems exist?

Hopefully the question isn't too broad or off. Basically, are there any practical, and by practical I mean secure enough that a ciphertext only attack is infeasible, key-less cryptosystems? For ...
479 views

### decrypt AES without whole key

Is there a way to decrypt a AES cipher Text which was encrypted twice with some key, when having a part of this key? (the last 3 bytes of the key are missing)
2k views

### How does one calculate the scalar multiplication on elliptic curves?

I found this example online: In the elliptic curve group defined by $$y^2 = x^3 + 9x + 17 \quad \text{over } \mathbb{F}_{23},$$ what is the discrete logarithm $k$ of $Q = (4,5)$ to the base ...
336 views

### two public keys with same passphrase insecure? | can two hashes be compared?

Suppose someone had generated a 2.048-Bit RSA GPG/PGP key pair and published the public key on the usual key servers. Then he withdraws this key and generates a new one in 4.096-Bit RSA using the same ...
1k views

### How exactly would someone crack a private key passphrase? [closed]

Lets say for a PGP/GPG pair with a passphrase.
153 views

### Two-dimensional S-Box

Consider the following simple cipher: $$c_1 = S(m_1 \oplus k_1) \oplus k_2$$ Where $S$ is S-box, $m_1$ - 16-bit plain text, $k_1$ and $k_2$ is two parts of 16-bit key. If S-box is standard then this ...
68 views

### What is the difference between PPE and SPPE?

Can somebody explain, in simple terms, the difference between Pseudo Random Permutation Ensemble and Super Pseudo Random Permutation Ensemble?
374 views

### Certificateless cryptography

While reading "Certificateless Public Key Cryptography" by Author Sattam S. Al-Riyami and Kenneth G. Paterson, they have considered generation of private keys by a Key Generation Center (KGC). If the ...
167 views

### How does one deal with a negative “d” in RSA?

I'm trying to write my own RSA implementation using the textbook approach — which I know is not optimal — of picking primes $p$ and $q$, then computing Euler's totient $phi$, then randomly picking an ...
655 views

### Initialization vector in symmetric-key encryption

Can we use symmetric-key algorithms without an initialization vector? I am making an app where both the sender and receiver share a key and there is no way to create an initialization vector for each ...
111 views

### Does collision resistance stay when extending a hash function to a set domain?

Given a Cryptographic hash function $h$ for element $x$, let's extend it to sets via $H(S)=\prod_{x\in{S}}{h(x)}$. I am asking if the new hash $H$ (in domain of set) is still collision resistant? To ...
180 views

### Is entropy affected by time?

I'm quite new to cryptographic systems, and today we discussed entropy at work. Since entropy is used to ensure the difficulty for an attacker to break in, I was wondering if the more time the high ...
78 views

### What does “adaptively secure” mean?

In a paper it says "In the generic group model, the PRF is adaptively secure for inputs of $\mathbb{Z}_q^n$". Maybe a stupid question, but what does "adaptively secure" mean exactly?
132 views

### AES Message Authentication Vulnerability

My securities instructor recently posed this question to the class and I am bending my brain in half trying to figure it out. Suppose $y_1 = AES(K, x_1)$ and $y_2 = AES(K,x_2)$, and suppose you ...
128 views

### Do I need to know the “mode of operation” to decrypt a message encrypted with a block cipher?

If I have received an AES encrypted message, and if I do know the key with which it was encrypted, do I also need to know the mode of operation with which it was encrypted in order to decrypt it? My ...
586 views

### What is the probability of breaking the AES algorithm?

I am doing a project which requires the encryption to be done using AES. Is it really possible (technically) to crack AES? If yes, please tell me: What is the probability of breaking AES? How ...
192 views

### Why nobody considers counter re-keying as a standard Block Cipher Mode?

One of the simplest possible cipher modes is setting each successive key as a function F of the previous one. ...
164 views

### What does modular inversion mean?

I'm trying to implement an e-voting algorithm, which is described at the paper "Internet Voting Protocol Based on Improved Implicit Security" by Abhishek Parakh & Subhash Kak. At the Example 1 ...
1k views

### AES key length greater than 256 bits - is it dangerous to do an implementation outside of the standard?

I'm making a digital-asset manager written in ActionScript 3, it will be used to manage highly sensitive information. I'm using the AS3Crypto library (which has quite a good reputation) to implement ...
170 views

### What cipher mode is suitable for independantly decryptable short messages?

I'm building a small VoIP client which transmits encrypted audio data via UDP, and some packet loss is expected, so each packet will need to be decrypted separately even if others in the stream don't ...
100 views

### What can a master password also be called?

When having a company computer that is full disk encrypted, it is common that the boss have a master password / backdoor, so the data always can be decrypted. I have heard some call this for "scrow" ...
126 views

### Does a break in a collision resistance property of a hash function by definition implies an attack at the first pre-image attack?

Is there a formal security proof in the shape of reduction that states that if an attacker manages to break the collision resistance property of a cryptographic hash function (a random oracle) he will ...
82 views

### Initialization value (IV) bit error

When a bit error happens in an IV, what would the result of decrypting a cipher-text be in the different encryption modes like ECB, CBC, CFB, OFB, and CTR?
391 views

### Why is an Encrypt-and-MAC scheme with deterministic MAC not IND-CPA secure?

I'm preparing myself to exam, but I have a lot of troubles with rigorous proofs. It's the task from two-years ago exam. At the bottom I reminded one definition. Let $(Gen_E,Enc,Dec)$ be an ...
2k views

### What is the best algorithm to encrypt files for storage on untrusted servers?

I need an encryption algorithm that works fast on large files and doesn't increase the file size. It should use a key to encrypt/decrypt data. The files will be sent using ReST and over HTTPS, but a ...
73 views

### find solutions that solve the equations

I am implementing a timing attack on RSA for school and I need to generate two sets of messages $Y$ and $Z$ for which holds: $(Y^d \mod N) \cdot Y < N$ and $(Z^d \mod N) \cdot Z > N$ where ...
567 views

### AES GCM symmetric encryption of data at rest in c#, ciphertext much longer than plaintext

I've written encryption/decryption routines using AES GCM. Code can be found here. I recently realized that the cipher text is longer than I believe it should be. It should add the tag and IV onto ...
443 views

### Is it possible to use the RSA algorithm, or a variant, for software licensing?

I'm almost a newbie about RSA encryption, so my question could it be banal. I'm beginning to create a licensing system for my software. I need to distribute a crypted license file to many customers. I ...
378 views

### Real life collision when only using truncated hash

For MD5 two different inputs are known that produce the same 128 bit hash value. However, these inputs are artificially created for this specific purpose. For normal, real life inputs I believe no ...
645 views

### Which attacks can be avoided by the use of OFB instead of ECB?

For a file encryption program, I was told to use Output Feedback mode (OFB) instead of ECB (Electronic code book) mode. Which attacks can I avoid by this choice?
306 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.
1k views

### Does encrypting twice using the same block cipher produce a security weakness?

If I use the output of a cipher, for example a block cipher such as AES and encrypt it again with the same algorithm, I read that this introduces weaknesses into the overall security of the system. ...
1k views

### Symmetric vs. Asymmetric cryptographic approaches to data security

I know the basic differences between Symmetric vs. Asymmetric cryptography, but I'd love to know more details: Exactly why is the asymmetric approach slower than the symmetric? Why does it make ...
651 views

### suggestions for cryptography projects for an ece 3rd year student

I am an electronics and communication engg student currently doing my 3rd year second semester. i am interested in info coding and the security aspects of it. As an ECE student i want to know what is ...
418 views

### Creating a hash of XOR'd blocks

Suppose a message $m$ is divided into blocks of length $160$ bits: $m > = M_1 || M_2 || ... || M_l$ And define $h(m) = M_1 \oplus M_2 \oplus ... \oplus M_l$ Which of the three desirable ...
93 views

### 64 bit Elliptic Curve key?

For a simple proof of concept project i'm (attempting!) to do, i've started looking into openSSL elliptic curve cryptography. However instead of the standard key lengths, 160-512. I'm interested in ...
75 views

### Does a cofactor of an elliptic curve have to be an integer?

What are the implications of a curve having a non-integer co-factor for its generator point? Is that even possible?
81 views

### Encrypting firmware with AES and no IV [closed]

I have an embedded device with a AES CBC engine on it that is used to ensure the integrity of the firmware. I know that CBC mode requires unique IVs to be any good, but I'm unsure if it makes a large ...
156 views

### Hash 22 byte secret into 512 bit hash: Full entropy?

Does it make sense to hash a 22 byte secret (which may not have full entropy since it is chosen by the user) into a 512 bit hash (using Keccak-512)? More precisely, will the 512 bit hash have full ...
98 views

### Decryption honeypots

When performing a key search, I've always wondered how you reliably detect a successful decryption once you hit the right key. I assume that you have to analyze the data and look for patterns: words, ...
208 views

### Where is my private key stored when I communicate to a website that uses SSL/TLS?

If I communicate with a website that uses SSL/TLS, my browser will generate a private key. Would the browser store that key on the hard disk or would store just it in the RAM?
71 views

### Pollard’s Rho Method

I can't get my head around Pollard’s Rho Method for solving discrate log problem I have read in a book: The basic idea is to pseudorandomly generate group elements of the form α^i · β^j ...
128 views

### Outsourcing arbitrary computations securely

Consider the following scheme. Alice wants Bob to make some computations for her, but she doesn't want to reveal the data on which he's going to do it. So, she encrypts the data, sends them to Bob, he ...
87 views

### Regex searchable word list for space-less monoalphabetic substitution [closed]

I am working on teaching myself basic cryptography, in the process I created a simple substitution cipher based on a single alphabet, and a statically defined offset (no key for now). Now that ...
111 views

### Why is this MAC based on secure PRF with ordering and randomization insecure?

Is this MAC secure: To authenticate a message $m=m_1||\ldots||m_l$ where $m_i \in \{0,1\}^{n/2}$, choose $r \leftarrow \{0,1\}^n$ at random, compute t:=F_k(r)\oplus F_k(\langle 1\rangle || ...
76 views

### Encrypted query parameters via HMAC

I have an unsubscribe link, which needs to be passed a customer id, and a product id, producing a query string something like: ?cid=100&pid=2 I would like to ...
76 views

### How to design a secure data container?

I want to design a secure data container that can be used to transfer encrypted data over a public network that can defeat common attacks. Data is already encrypted before entering this container so ...