# All Questions

311 views

### Constructing secure key exchange protocol

I have $\Pi=(Gen,Enc,Dec)$ and let it be semantically secure public-key encryption scheme. Security parameter is $n$, then the message space of plaintext is always $\lbrace 0, 1 \rbrace^n$. By using ...
126 views

### Is the mod_auth_tkt scheme secure?

The third-party Apache plugin mod_auth_tkt uses a tragically-not-HMAC construction: ...
324 views

### Security considerations for partially shared password databases

Programs like KeyPass and 1Password store password database files encrypted by a single password. If someone knows the protecting password ("Vault Key"), they can read the entire database ("secrets"). ...
306 views

### Is a continuous stream of encrypted data embedded in garbage more or less secure than only encrypting the data?

Consider a communication channel that needs to be secure (Encryption can not use full "volume" encryption, since future messages are not known). Would it be better to only transmit encrypted ...
495 views

### Is it possible to match encrypted documents using user-defined search terms?

Suppose I am storing a number of encrypted documents in a database. I would like to make it possible to identify the subset of documents whose contents match user-specified search terms without a) ...
219 views

### Encrypt array of int for individual retrieval

I have limited exposure to cryptographic terminology, so please bear with me. My end goal is to encrypt integer IDs, before transmitting them to a web client in a list of search results, in a way ...
849 views

### Signature and Timestamp for Long Term Document Archival Question

I have a PDF document intended for long-term (many years, maybe decades) archival which I would like to digitally sign with my personal certificate to ensure its integrity. As far as I understand, I ...
3k views

### How do digital certificates work, and why is it not possible to reverse engineer one from a signed file?

Digital certificates are used quite commonly these days, for signing files. They are used by various operating systems to ensure reliability and security. For example, Android requires that each of ...
240 views

### Algorithm to securely exchange identities

Say four people each have a public/private key pair that they can use to encrypt or sign messages. They have an anonymous way to post messages such that the others can see them. Malicious entities can ...
701 views

### Linear Feedback Shift Register Taps

Linear feedback shift register tap charts are availale for registers of length 3 to 168. Does anyone have a chart for register lengths from 168 to 256 or beyond? Thank you.
188 views

### What “Tag Length” should be used for the EAX MAC?

Since EAX is very flexible with regard to the length of the calculated MAC (what they call "tag" is the MAC value right?), and the EAX paper as well as other documentations carefully avoid suggesting ...
1k views

### Obtaining the key length from the ciphertext of an auto-encipher

I'm revising for a cryptography exam at the moment and I'm having some problems with a question. The question looks for the key length of a cipher given that the word "earthquake" appears in the ...
1k views

### Demonstrating the insecurity of an RSA signature encoding scheme

I'm working on problem 12.4 from Katz-Lindell. The problem is as follows: Given a public encoding function $\newcommand{\enc}{\operatorname{enc}}\enc$ and a textbook RSA signature scheme where ...
202 views

### Does hash_df use binary or an ASCII hexadecimal representation for numbers to be passed to the hash function?

I'm implementing the HASH_DRBG algorithm. As per NIST-SP800 90 document for HASH DRBG Generation, section 10.4.1 "Derivation Function Using a Hash Function (Hash_df)", the Hash_df algorithm contains ...
449 views

### ElGamal message signatures retrieving the secret value x

If the GCD(r, p-1) is small and the value k is used to sign a message using ElGamal is also small. Then the secret value of x can be determined. Why is this true? How would one retrieve x?
204 views

### Background for modular arithmetic function

I'm investigating this function: $a := ((b\cdot c) \bmod k) - (b \cdot c)/k$ where $/$ indicates integer division. Two things I've noticed: It's equivalent to multiplying a·b, and then ...
1k views

### Digital Signature Algorithm signature creation

I was studying DSS from "Cryptography and Network Security" by William Stallings. What puzzled me was the DSS approach figure described in the text. It says it uses Public and Private Keys for ...
39 views

### Multi-Party Encryption for a Shared Document

Is there an encryption algorithm/protocol where any of a pre-defined set of keys/passwords will succeed in decrypting a document? The number of keys can be fixed, say, 10 or 20 possible passwords. ...
44 views

### Memory hardness of key derivation function through XOR-ring multiple matrix values

For theoretical purposes in order to enhance my own understanding, and NOT in order to create my own cryptography, I am asking a question about the memory-hardness of a key derivation function ...
48 views

### Improving security of (authentication) protocol

I have a basic protocol which tries to authenticate messages going from client to server. Basically it is like this: Imagine I want to send message M to server. Client computes a MAC over the ...
130 views

### Encryption that can only be decrypted once?

I want to encrypt a message so that it can only be decrypted once. I know that we can use nonces to do this when we exchange data over a communication channel, but in my case the cipher text will be ...
64 views

### Is XTS basically the cheapest form of (secure) double-encryption?

XTS, as given by the below equation, is a mode of operation primarily targeting full-disk encryption scenarios. By the way it works it also doubles the keylength although a meet-in-the-middle attack ...
152 views

### Is it possible to find a Mersenne Twister seed given only the first output?

Suppose I have a Mersenne Twister seeded with some unknown value, and I’ve been given the first output. Given only this first output, and no other information, is it possible to derive the unknown ...
58 views

### How to exctract ECDH parameters from an OpenSSL-generated $G$?

I'm using ECDH for generating ECDH public parameters (p,a,b,G,n), I try to get this values using openssl ecparam -in cert.pem -text -noout For ...
56 views

### Why is GCM only usable for ciphers with a 128-bit block size?

All block cipher modes of operation that I understand are generic schemes. They are not restricted by key size or block size. So why is GCM restricted to 128-bit block size?
119 views

### Do we have to consider the cryptographic properties of the decryption, if we're only using the encryption?

Treyfer for example has slower diffusion in decryption. It has full diffusion between words in 2 rounds for encryption and 7 rounds for decryption. Do we have to consider the (bad) cryptographic ...
56 views

### converting finite field elements to octet strings

I need to convert elements of the finite field $GF(p^k)$, where $p$ is an odd prime, to octet strings. To be more precise, I want to include elliptic curve points over $GF(p^2)$ in a Subject Public ...
48 views

### Is there a standard format for compact 56-bit DES keys?

DES keys are traditionally stored as 8-byte blobs, with only the high 7 bits of each byte being meaningful to the algorithm; the low bit of each byte is set so that the population count of the byte is ...
75 views

### Why a key pair is used in OpenSSL ECDSA_sign or ECDSA_do_sign instead of only private key ?

If the digital signature in ECC (ECDSA) is made using a private key, why is the OpenSSL library using ECKEY pair as an input parameter instead of the private key only ?
43 views

### Attacks on WinRAR volumes reusing same password?

I have quite a few WinRAR volumes that are all encrypted with the same password. The password is long and unbruteforceable, but I recently read that WinRAR uses PBDKF2 as its key-derivation function ...
55 views

### Is this a proper PBKDF2 key derivation function algorithm?

I've started implementing PBKDF2 algorithm recently and since I'm new in crypto, I would like to ask if my implementation is good. I looked up some documentations and I tried to follow many of them ...
79 views

### Is it possible to encrypt data points but still be able to select the ones “near” a given value?

We have an application where we would like to store "encrypted" data points (as in, not being able to know the original - plaintext - data just by looking at the stored - encrypted - version of it) ...
90 views

### OpenPGP Public-Key algorithm

What means when pgpdump shows this kind of algorithm in the Public-Key Encrypted Session Key Packet? ...
77 views

### Do Curtmola et al.'s IND-CKA1/2 security definitions protect against search pattern leakage?

In the article Searchable Symmetric Encryption: Improved Definitions and Efficient Constructions, Curtmola et al. propose adaptive and non-adaptive (indistinguishability and simulator-based) security ...
37 views

### What procedure to use to verify a raw public key (TLS ECDHE_EDCSA ciphersuite)?

Contrary of verifying a certificate which is a well-known procedure, I am wondering what the procedure is to verify a raw public key 'certificate' (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc7250). This ...
61 views

### How strong can multiple encryption be?

Suppose I encrypted a homophonic substitution cipher at the level of syllables, trigrams, digraphs, and individual letter with a Vigenere cipher using the keyword cryptography. I would then encrypt ...
186 views

### Recommended password complexity for SSH key encryption using AES-256-CBC

When protecting SSH private keys with password-based encryption, what would be a good minimum password complexity+length standard to make cracking the password too difficult to be worthwhile anytime ...
57 views

### Is RSA vulnerable to the padding oracle attack?

I know that AES in combination with CBC mode is vulnerable against the Padding Oracle Attack. RSA also uses some kind of padding, hence can this attack be apply to RSA encrypted messages too?
52 views

### NTRU test vectors

Where can I find NTRU test vectors? In some research work in 2001, it is stated that test vectors were not publicly available at the time. Then in this ESSS1v2 standard under IEEE1363 here , the ...
79 views

### How can recovered 5-letters plain text help me to recover reused OTP key

I have 10 cipher texts ciphered with One Time Pad (OTP) using the same key. I need to recover the key (or in other words, to recover the 11th cipher text which I assumed would require me to recover ...
56 views

### Public SRP verifiers or public hash chain “public keys” when secret is low entropy password

I want to set up the following: An untrusted server should host user sessions and authenticate users without knowing their passwords or being capable of creating a fake user session in the user's ...
87 views

### Extend OTP on random data?

If Alice and Bob both start with a shared OTP $P_0$, which is 256-bytes long, and Alice wants to send a 512-byte message, would it be secure to send the first 256 bytes with standard OTP (...
119 views

### Is there any such thing as “proof of location”?

I'm looking for a way for someone to prove to me their geographical location without a trusted third-party. Imagine wanting to prove to someone you're actually physically in a specific place. I'd ...
118 views

### How can I generate a good password from a SHA512 hash?

I have to change local administrator passwords on machines. I don't want to store password in a database. I have to generate a password that I can find later to connect to the machine again. So I ...
59 views

### Is authenticated encryption basically a lockable box?

I recently used a custom construction as a commitment scheme, which was taken from the standard picture you give people while explaining commitment schemes. Basically commitment schemes can be ...
51 views

### How does DPA work on AES?

I am really not much of a crypto guy so I don't really get how a differential power analysis on AES works. Can somebody explain it to me how it basically works?
92 views

### Does authenticated encryption add any protection to a signed digital envelope?

The general scenario of hybrid encryption is to use public key cryptography for the exchange of a one time session key that can be used for the encryption of the plaintext with a symmetric encryption ...
117 views

### Proof that two parties can communicate

Suppose we have three parties, Alice, Bob, and Carol. Alice can receive messages from Bob and Carol individually, but can only send messages to both simultaneously. Additionally, Alice cannot tell if ...