All Questions

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Precomputation attacks on RSA

Are precomputation attacks - such as outlined in RFC 3610 chapter 5 - possible on RSA PKCS#1 v1.5 signature generation? If yes, are such attacks taken into account when calculating the cryptographic ...
67 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 ...
92 views

Efficiency of chaining AES “groups” of blocks

From ISO/IEC 23001-7:2012/Amd 1:2012 10.2.2 Creation of Initialization Vector (Informative) Decryption efficiency may be improved if subsequent initialization vectors use the value of the last ...
99 views

How does CBC work with read-write volumes?

I have read an article about an attack on LUKS in CBC mode and had a look at the WP article about CBC and now I am confused. If I have understood that correctly then changing the plaintext of a block ...
138 views

How is padding oracle attack mitigated by encrypt-then-MAC?

Let us suppose Alice sends a message to Bob. As far as I know, the most popular scheme of MAC-then-encrypt is as follows: Alice computes the HMAC of the plaintext using her private key, and then ...
152 views

SIMONs Cryptoanalysis

I'm reading Cryptanalysis of the SIMON Family of Block Ciphers. In Section 3.1, it says: For SIMON, consider an n-bit input difference $\alpha= x\oplus x'$ to $F$ of Hamming weight one. As the ...
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Is there a number of tries after which Hashcash is guaranted to be solved?

Hashcash is a proof-of-work system in which the Sender needs to find $Y$ such as the first (let's say 20) bits of $H(X+Y)$ are zeros where $H$ is a one-way hash function, $X$ is a fixed value and $+$ ...
132 views

Is it necessary to generate a private key for each encryption process?

I read about Asymmetric key cryptography like EG-ECC , RSA, ECDH. I understand the concept of mathematics to these algorithms. But I have wondered about the public key for sender and private key for ...
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What are the two parts of SHA1's compression function called?

SHA1's compression function has two distinct parts: one where 16 words are expanded into 80 words, and one where the 80 words are used over 80 rounds. Are there specific names or terms for each of ...
182 views

PRF and hash functions

Is there a difference between PRF and a hash function? For example: Creation of a secret key is using PRF and creating a secret key is using hash function.
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Pairings in Identity-based encryption vs. Attribute-based encryption

The bilinear map in Identity-based encryption should satisfy $e(aP,bQ)=e(P,Q)^{a\cdot b}$ whereas Attribute-based encryption schemes use $e(P^a,Q^a)=e(P,Q)^{a\cdot b}$ with $a,b\in\mathbb{Z}_p$ and ...
129 views

Solving Vignere Encryption

I'm currently trying to crack a cypher that I believe is Vignere Encrypted and I'm currently stuck. I calculated the key length by finding repeated sequences in the cypher and calculating the the ...
144 views

Using Stream Cipher as CSPRNG

Are there any guidelines or justification for converting a stream cipher algorithm for use as a CSPRNG? For instance, lets say I wanted to convert one of the eStream portfolio Profile 1 (software) ...
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RSA Key Generation Parameters - public exponent, certainty, string-to-key count

I want to know what values are appropriate for the public exponent and certainty when generating an RSA Key (for example using Bouncy Castle RSAKeyGenerationParameters function). What is the ...
222 views

How is the curve equation used in ECC?

I have a hard time learning exactly how the elliptic curve equation is used in the ECC. $$y^2 = x^3+ax+b$$ If someone knows and could explain to me in simple steps how this is done or a link to it ...
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distribution for a subset of md5

I need to uniquely assign a 32 bit integer to a collection of human readable strings (i.e. they will not be generated with hash collision in mind). I don't expect more than a few thousand strings. I ...
205 views

Is this an acceptable implementation of ARC4 encryption for my system?

I am building an open source hardware system that will be used to control things over the internet. The system consists of a Base Station and Modules which use wireless communication at 2.4GHz to ...
165 views

I'm looking to do some research into how RSA is used in the wild. I've read through a few papers and it seems other researchers have had no trouble collecting millions of keys to perform analysis on. ...
107 views

Reseeding a PRNG with the generated PRN

Would reseeding a PRNG with the PRN from the previous generation have any effects whatsoever on the quality of the generated numbers; if so, does this depend on the PRNG used, or are the effects ...
382 views

Attack of an RSA signature scheme using PKCS#1 v1.5 encryption padding

My best interpretation of this question is that Java's crypto API has been subverted to perform RSA signature using PKCS#1 v1.5 encryption padding. Assume the signature $S$ of a message $M$ is ...
182 views

Why should a signature use PSS padding in RSA?

Suppose I send a message using AES (private keys already negotiated securely) and I send a hash of this message using RSA (encrypted with private key) with OAEP to verify the authenticity and ...
235 views

Hashing fundamentals

I have some ideas floating around my head for exploring hashing functions, but I want to make sure what I think I know is actually true, before basing a house of cards on it :) Let’s start with some ...
293 views

Find out which keying option is being used in Triple DES?

As far as I know, there are three standard options for the three keys $K_1$, $K_2$ and $K_3$ used by 3DES: Three distinct keys. The first and last key are equal: $K_1$ = $K_3$. Three equal keys: ...
133 views

Can a properly implemented ed25519 private key with public underlying data be cracked?

If the underlying data is public albeit hashed with SHA-512, does that make a difference on the strength of ed25519? Please quantify the extent. Can ed25519 be cracked after a certain amount of ...
222 views

How is HKDF-Expand better than a simple hash?

Why do we need HKDF-Expand if we can simply hash the pseudorandom key to make it longer? The docs (in the link) say: The second stage "expands" the pseudorandom key to the desired length... ...
161 views

One-way function and uninvertible function [closed]

How can I prove the following: If $f$ is a one-way function, then it is an uninvertible function?
216 views

Predicting Java's PRNG using partial output

I have a program (a game) that uses Java's nextInt function with parameter 0x10000 to get a random 16-bit number. Java's ...
149 views

Shamir Secret Sharing Modular Reduction

Say players use Shamir's secret sharing to share a value $k$ such that each player now holds $k_i$, a share of $k$. How can they securely compute $k \bmod m$ for some $m$. Of course they can ...
139 views

Efficiently computing the neutral element in a ring isomorphic to Z/NZ?

Edited to clarify question So my question is whether anyone knows of an efficient way to compute the neutral element (I'm gonna call it 1, but the operation doesn't have to be multiplication) in an ...
80 views

Digicipher and other proprietary systems?

I've always been curious as to how Pay-TV and other Conditional Access systems actually stay secure for any amount of time, given that they are usually one way and (I'm assuming) use symmetric keys ...
121 views

How to ensure that a “received value” is not altered?

I have a program (whereby people can download and run on their own computers) that will calculate a couple of unknown values each day. For simplicity sake, let's assume that the calculation is simply ...
182 views

RSA key length choice for TLS when confidentiality not important?

I've a couple of questions about this, the scenario is embedding a key pair in a hardware device which will speak with other hardware devices over tls. computing resources are an issue so i want to ...
98 views

Proof of shared secret through key derivation

Alice gives a random key $K$ (e.g. 32 bytes long) to Bob through a secure channel. Bob want to prove to Alice through an unsecured channel that he knows the key. Is it secure for Bob to send ...