# All Questions

131 views

### Separate Read and Write Keys in TLS Key Material

Why does the TLS protocol use different symmetric keys for receiving and sending data? Isn't it enough to have a single key used for both reading and writing?
193 views

### Transparent cipher

I'm trying to implement this protocol: Alice has her permanent key $K_1$. She computes $E(K_1, P)$. She wants to share $P$ with Bob, Carol and Dave. For each of them she: 2.1. Generates $K_2$. ...
660 views

### Okay to use OpenSSL to encrypt then sign a message?

I am planning on encrypting a message then signing the message so the recipient can authenticate the source. Reading this article has me concerned that I'm doing something wrong. My current plan is ...
223 views

### Public Key Encryption with forward secrecy

Is there a known non-trivial system with plausibly secure public key encryption where: 1. $\;\;$ the $\:$ time $\:$ function is efficiently computable 2. $\;\;$ [pubkey,privkey] $\:$ pairs are ...
74 views

### Distributed knowledge problem

I need a way to distribute knowledge among multiple parties - lets start with two. The idea is while the knowledge is originally created by one party I need to transform it into a situation where no ...
281 views

### How are the primes used to generate RSA keys?

I am confused about how keys in RSA asymmetric encryption are generated and what the implications for open communications are. Textbooks say the one-way function is merely two primes (with some ...
559 views

### ECC algorithm pollard's $\rho$ complexity

One of the methods to break a ECDLP is Pollard's rho algorithm. When ECDLP is defined over a finite field $F_p$, and given a relation $S=w.T$, where S and T are a member of $F_p$. Then ECDLP is to ...
636 views

### RC4 : Keystream reconstruction?

First up: it's a step in some challenge found on the Internet, where we get an application and a file. The application must be feed with that file and a password (the password is the flag for the ...
108 views

### Secure Remote Protocol - Are these 2 equations equivalent?

I'm implementing the Secure Remote Protocol that is specified to have this equation for the parameter S, the premaster secret. ...
211 views

### Shannon entropy calculation: is $H(A|R·A) = H(A)$?

Suppose I generate a random $m×m$ matrix $R$, where each of its elements belongs to $\mathbb Z_n$. I ensure that $R$ is invertible in $\mathbb Z_n^{m×m}$. Now I take a non-random $m×m$ ...
189 views

### synchronization of counters in HOTP

How is synchronization of counter values achieved in the HOTP protocol? As I understand it, the server increments its counter value only if a match (of the OTP value) is found. What happens at ...
5k views

### Calculating private keys in the RSA cryptosystem

The number $43733$ was chosen as base for an implementation of the RSA system. $M=19985$ is the message, that was encrypted with help of a public key $K=53$. What is the plaintext text? What is the ...
475 views

### DES Crack simulation

I wish to simulate an implementation of a DES Cracker using verilog. But every paper I read give only abstract hints but no concrete steps or how really to go about it. How is it usually done? For ...
236 views

### AESManaged Trade Compliance Issue in United States

I am currently using AESManaged encryption for my silverlight application. Does AESManaged encryption have a severe trade compliance issue in Bureau of Industry and Security in terms of shipping the ...
502 views

### Is there an effective way for public key generation in homomorphic encryption schemes?

Is there any way to effectively generate valid distributed public key in schemes like ElGamal or Benaloh for a number of participants? There's no need in private keys since there's no intent to ...
72 views

### One Way function and Merkle Damgård

Is it possible keep the "one wayness property" of certain one way function in Merkle-Damgård construction? I'm asking this question because according to Collision-Resistant hashing: Towards making ...
53 views

### Maximum password length in PBKDF2

Haven't found any clear cut answer in Google so its up to you guys: DK = PBKDF2(PRF, Password, Salt, c, dkLen) Here, what is the upper limit of password length? ...
72 views

### Variants of AES? [on hold]

Would variants of AES provide the same level of security as AES, say by just replacing the S-box with another one, MDS matrix of Mixcolumn, etc.?
37 views

### ElGamal signature scheme: Why is r included in s

In the ElGamal signature scheme we calculate a signature for a (hashed) message $m$ as $r \equiv_p g^k$, $s \equiv_{p-1} (m - xr) k^{-1}$ and verify it by checking $g^m \equiv_p y^r r^s$. Here ...
69 views

### Block-cipher based vs Hash based MAC

When it comes to MAC algorithms one can have many choices. CBC-MAC, CMAC, PMAC etc are some MAC algorithms that rely on block ciphers (ex AES) to generate a MAC. On the other hand HMAC is very popular ...
58 views

### CTR mode encryption using PRG

In CTR mode encryption, the encryption block is not required to be invertible. Thus, a PRF can be used instead of a PRP. However most of the implementations of CTR mode are based on AES which is a ...
78 views

### RSA Blind Signature Attack

In Information Security Class I learned a non-adaptive chosen ciphertext attack using "blinding" but I just can't follow the proof and therefore can't reconstruct it. From what I've found out, it ...
50 views

### Size of Fresh Ciphertext's Noise in FHE over the integers

I'm studying FHE over the Integer which is https://eprint.iacr.org/2009/616.pdf In the remark 3.4, it says that the fresh ciphertexts have noise at most $2^{\rho'+2}$. I don't know why that ...
47 views

### Encrypted files in an encrypted partition or folder

Recently I started wondering about multiple encryption and found pages upon pages of posts and debates about the security of cascades. Now, don’t worry – I'm not looking for someone to discuss a ...
95 views

### Secure way to store fixed size string of digits

I need to store a string of digits (0-9) of a fixed size in my database securely. I've already performed a rainbow table attack on a plain hash, and it broke it in a matter of seconds. One option I ...
81 views

### Use AES-256 Or AES-CTR-256 For One Block?

I am have one block of data to encrypt that is 32-bytes long. Is it better to use the AES-256 primitive for this single block (not a stream) or AES-256-CTR, and also would there be any cons or pros to ...
61 views

### AES-CTR-256 Sub Keys With Encrypted Sub Key Index

I was working with some encryption and I decided to put a spin. To preface this would be used to encrypt multiple files. You start with a key file generated from random data. For example you could ...
144 views

### How secure is using a pad (using xor) on a encrypted data, for the purpose of obfuscating/hiding the underlying encryption?

Edit: I know this isn't really a one time pad (as pointed out), though I don't really know what to call it aside from just a pad, I guess. I have been reading around (mostly various stackexchange ...
86 views

### Generalized Merkle Signatures, SHA-3 and Sakura

Sakura specifies a tree hash mode for e.g. Keccak (SHA-3). Are there any reasons to use the Sakura tree hash mode in a Generalized Merkle Signature Scheme? It seems to me Sakura primarily solves a ...
150 views

### Ciphertext indistinguishability (IND-CPA) for symmetric cryptography

My understanding are these steps are necessary for symmetric cryptography to be IND-CPA: The adversary submits two distinct $M_0$, $M_1$ plain-texts to the challenger. The challenger selects one of ...
52 views

### mixing two asymmetrical random number generator streams

Knuth describes in "the art of computer programming part 2" an algorithm called "M" for mixing two streams of random numbers. This can be used to mix random number streams giving the assurance that ...
97 views

### What is the motivation behind Key-policy Attribute-based Encryption?

What is Attribute Based Encryption? has a nice explanation what both forms (Ciphertext-policy Attribute-based Encryption and Key-policy Attribute-based Encryption) are. My question is: what is the ...
51 views

### Is jacobian to projective conversion unique?

I am doing a small project in ECC. I have used the following equation for converting Projective to Jacobian coordinates: $$D = AC\\ E = BC^{2}\\ F = C$$ and also the following equation to convert ...
34 views

### Calculating IHVs from known message and hash output

Here is a somewhat silly and atypical problem I am currently facing. Usually, when it comes to hashes, one is bothered with finding collisions and preimages. My problem is, I need to find the IHV used ...
110 views

### How can I calculate the Rijndael SBox?

I would like to implement the Rijndael subBytes() operation using calculation instead of tables, because I like to play with this on different wordsizes, as an ...
78 views

### Simplification of a pairing

The paper Expressive, Efficient, and Revocable Data Access Control for Multi-Authority Cloud Storage contains the following simplification: e(C_i,\text{GPK}_{uid})\cdot e(D_i, ...
127 views

### The modulus of RSA public key

I am studying the RSA cryptosystem. The public key consists of $(n, e)$, the modulus (product of two large primes), and the encryption exponent. I want to separate the modulus $n$ and exponent $e$. A ...
76 views

### Cryptool - DES (ECB and CBC ) - double encyption

So, I uploaded a text file in Cryptool and encrypted it with DES-ECB with the key FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF. I encrypted the cipher text again, with DES-CBC using ...
65 views

### Is a keyed PRF a MAC?

I remember I read that a MAC can be considered as a PRF. Can a variable-length input keyed-PRF be considered as a MAC?
56 views

### LFSR Output Sampling for Berlekamp-Massey

Looking at the use of Linear Feedback Shift Registers in cryptographic algorithms, I have learned that the Berlekamp-Massey algorithm can be used to find the (shortest) LFSR that generates a given ...
57 views

### What does it mean for an adversary to run in PPT?

I've been reading this question where a detailed description of mine is given, I've understood that a polynomial-time adversary is an adversary for which the only feasible strategy are those that take ...
58 views

### Is HMAC padding the same as bcrypt?

I have been watching Christof Paar on his YouTube lectures also I used bcrypt to store two passwords with salts and I find that I have a few questions. I am interested in what bcrypt does to the ...
92 views

### Comparing two values without revealing them

Suppose Alice wants to prove to Bob that t1 is less than t2. t1 and ...
204 views

I would like to know what (if any) are the advantages of using Montgomery Power ladder over the Double-and-Add-Always algorithm. I think that firstly, Monty would be slightly faster than DoubleAndAdd. ...
103 views

### Pailler and Gentry - homomorphic encryption

Paillier cryptosystem is a probabilistic asymmetric algorithm for public key cryptography. Doesn't homomorphic encryption schemes have regular effects on the plaintext, and does that mean Pailliers ...
76 views

### What's the advantage of using OFB/CFB/CTR modes over a stream cipher

As far as I understand: The primary disadvantage associated with stream ciphers is the need for a random and unique key for each run in order to protect against reused-key attacks. OFB/CFB/CTR block ...
55 views

### Pairing Field size as security parameter

I have read Pairings for cryptographers: It states that the groups $G_1$ and $G_2$ are groups of points on the curve and the group GT is a subgroup of the multiplicative group of a related finite ...
108 views

### How do P2P clients like uTorrent maintain authenticity of files?

I am very new to concepts of cryptography so bear with me and feel free to fill in any information that may seem obvious but something you think someone may not know. At first I was under impression ...
Given a secret $K \bmod q$ which is shared among entities $E_1,…,E_n$ using polynomial Shamir's Secret Sharing, how can the inverse of $k$ be shared without revealing $k$ and $k^{-1}$?