# All Questions

354 views

### Two step encryption

Is there any asymmetric cryptography algorithm which will allow recursive encryption. ...
705 views

### Proofs of collision resistance by reduction

I'm looking for examples of a proof by reduction. For example: Let $A=(Gen, H)$ be a hash function. We define a new Hash function $A'=(Gen',H')$ with $Gen=Gen'$ by $H'_s(x)=H_s(H_s(x))$. It ...
379 views

### Proof that a function constructed from a PRP is, or is not a PRF?

Let $E$ be a family of Pseudo-Random Permutations of $b$ bits, with $E_K$ indistinguishable from random permutation with effort less than $O(2^b)$, easily computable as well as the inverse ...
604 views

### Generating a cryptographically secure, many-time use, symmetric encryption key

I need to generate a 256 bit encryption key described by the adjectives in the title. Currently I intend to create the key using this RNG. Is this a secure manner of creating the key, given that it ...
849 views

### Additive ElGamal cryptosystem using a finite field

I'm trying to implement a modified version of the ElGamal cryptosystem as specified by Cramer et al. in "A secure and optimally efficient multi-authority election scheme", which possesses additive ...
467 views

### Untraceable communication protocol

I am doing a research about secure communication protocols. I would be interested to know whether a protocol exists such that it grants that the two end-points taking part to the communication cannot ...
142 views

### KDF with low-entropy salts

I need to derive a key from a username and a password. These are the only two things I have access to. What I thought is using PBKDF2 with username as the salt and password as the master password. ...
172 views

### Does it make sense to use slow hashes in digital signatures?

For storing passwords, it seems that the use of intentionally slow hash functions (like PBKDF2 and bcrypt) is now recommended. This is because most hashes are designed to be fast, which also makes ...
717 views

### bcrypt - collision-resistance against chosen salt and work factor?

Would it be difficult to find $\:$ cost,salt,input,password0,password1 $\:$ such that bcrypt(cost,salt,password0,input) = bcrypt(workfactor,salt,password1,input) and $\:$ password0 != password1 $\:$ ...
769 views

### Advanced Encryption Standard Algorithm Secret Key

just a follow up question with this question.. How does the key schedule of Rijndael looks for keysizes other than 128 bit? A 256-bit key can still encrypt a block of plaintext in 128 bit? but in ...
100 views

### Is the following scheme secure for different cipher

Let's say I have two keys K1 and K2. two messages M1 and M2 of the same length. Cipher (E,D) 3 ciphertexts: C11, C12,C22 where Cij = E(Ki, Mj) In situation ...
507 views

### What is the computational cost of a public key certificate signature verification?

What is the computational cost of a certificate signature verification in terms of exponentiation, multiplication and other computation operations?
217 views

### Helper data authentication in PUFs

As I understand, PUFs work by using two procedures: generation and reproduction. Generation reads a value $w$ from a fuzzy source and generates a key $R$ and helper data $P$. Then, in the reproduction ...
151 views

### Is a using salt important when creating a hash data validator?

I am creating a service that will return an set of objects, which will be used by multiple systems. At the end of the process, one (or more) of the objects will be sent back to our system for ...
63 views

### Can I change an encryption key used without decrypting first

I'm looking to solve for a little challenge I have in regards to changing the encryption on a message with asymmetric keys. I'd love to be able to swap the encryption to a different key in memory and ...
46 views

### DTLS 1.2 Key Expansion

I am using DTLS 1.2 and my cipher is TLS_ECDHE_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 According to RFC 5246(RFC 5246 key calculation) i am calculating keys but i can not find the size of these keys in this RFC. ...
28 views

### How does Feistel cipher create diffusion between blocks?

From what I've read about Feistel ciphers, I can understand that within each block, there is both confusion and diffusion. But it is unclear to me how a Feistel cipher permutates among blocks of data. ...
94 views

### Can an adversary distinguish a private key from a pseudo-random string of the same length?

Apologies if this is a dumb question but allow me to describe the dilemma I have: Suppose that I am protecting a private key on a device using a password & PBKDF2. The obvious attack would be an ...
39 views

### Is a chosen ciphertext attack on PGP still possible?

In a paper from 2002 (pdf), Jallad et al describe a chosen ciphertext attack on PGP by taking advantage of the CFB mode that the block ciphers use under PGP. It's quite a devastating attack. Is this ...
55 views

### Difference between FleXOR and Free-XOR

I would like to know the differences between FleXOR and Free-XOR. I searched in the web but I couldn’t understand the information I found. I understand that there are both cryptographic methods as ...
85 views

### Is Using Digital Signatures to prove identity a zero knowledge proof?

Suppose Alice publishes a book with a public key in it, and later wants to prove that she wrote the book. She could sign challenge messages with her private key, and others could verify those signed ...
70 views

### RSA: select $e$ given $n$ and $\varphi(n)$

I have a question for a course I am doing. In an RSA question, it asks "Is it possible to select $e$ in such a way that it coincides with the corresponding private key $d$? If it is possible, provide ...
111 views

### Time taken for a brute force attack on a key size of 64-bits

You can do $2^{30}$ encryptions per second and the key size is 64 bits. $2^{64}/2^{30}$ should give me the time taken for a brute force attack? What if you double the key size? How can I calculate ...
48 views

### What are fixed points and length extension attack in hash functions?

I was recently reading about hash functions, and I came across fixed points (one or more fixed points, interested in both) and length extensions, but I didn't exactly understand how these work. If ...
204 views

### How to use the Extended Euclidean algorithm to invert a finite field element?

I was doing some practice on cryptography (I'm new to this topic) and was wondering what the following question even means or what it is asking me to find. I do know how to do Extended Euclidean ...
80 views

### A block cipher whose key changes after each block

I have been reading about various block cipher modes of operation, and all of them seem to treat the block cipher (including it's key and key schedule) as a sort of immutable black box. I would like ...
72 views

### Is it acceptable to write the nonce to the encrypted file during AES-256 GCM? [duplicate]

I've used AES-128 in CTR mode in the past and using the same key but different IVs for each file, I wrote the IV to the first 16 bytes. Is it safe to do so with the nonces used in AES-256 GCM? I'm ...
52 views

### Selective and existential unforgability of signature schemes

I understand that one can define EUF-CMA of a signature scheme is terms of a game where the adversary is allowed to query signatures on messages of his choosing, and at the end of the game he must ...
89 views

### What is the intuition for ECDSA?

I understand DH and ElGamal and RSA encryption/signatures. But when I look at ECDSA (or plain DSA), it seems like the formulas are just pulled out of thin air. I can verify that the algebra used in ...
50 views

In the ideal/real proof paradigm we sometimes find simulators with the capacity of set adversary random tape. My question: when do we have to consider the necessity of simulators set adversary ...
69 views

### Misuse-resistant authenticated encryption based on SHA-3/Blake2b and AES-CTR/ChaCha20

I am wondering if the following is a useful misuse-resistant authenticated encryption scheme: Parameters (shared by many users): Choose a hash function $H$, such as Blake2 or Keccak. SHA2 could ...
61 views

### Block cipher mode of operation with beyond-birthday-bound security

I am looking for block cipher modes of operation that are secure even when the number of blocks encrypted exceeds the birthday bound.
78 views

### Encryption with two meanings without computer or programming

Can one create a cipher with two meanings? Not two layers, two phrases in the same cipher in the way that it would have a meaning X, for example, if deciphered using Transposition cipher and meaning Y ...
218 views

### HW acceleration for Camellia cipher (x86_64/AES-NI/AVX2)

Modern processors support hardware acceleration for various crypto functions such as AES directly, or general vector operations which can be used in crypto ...
192 views

### What is the difference between SHA-3(Keccak) and previous generation SHA algorithms?

SHA-1 and SHA-2 share the same structure and mathematical operation as their predecessors - SHA-0 and MD5. Both SHA-0 and MD5 have been broken. This is one of the main reasons why SHA-1 is considered ...
383 views

### Is XOR adequate for encrypting truly random data? [duplicate]

It is well-known that the two-time pad is very insecure. However, it seems unexploitable in the case where the plaintext is indistinguishable from random (ex. symmetric keys). Is this property ...
66 views

### Affine cipher and plaintext attacks, how to find the base modulo?

Last year, a question concerning plaintext attacks was posted at Mathematics.SE: “Plaintext attacks: affine cipher”. I have no problem to see how to solve it when we are given two ciphertexts and ...
74 views

### Forward Secrecy when using non-ephemeral DH

In context SSL/TLS, reading up on various sites, I find forward secrecy in DH key exchange being linked to its ephemeral use i.e. DHE. I don't fully understand this link, where does following ...
466 views

### Should AES.decrypt(ct, wrong_key) return blank or wrong result?

I am trying to use AES as cipher for an application I am building. I am using a JavaScript library (https://code.google.com/p/crypto-js/) to perform encryption and decryption with AES. When I ...
63 views

### Faster alternative to HKDF

HKDF is used in one of my projects to derive separate keys from a common master key. But profiling has shown it to be the performance bottleneck under certain circumstances. Is there any faster ...
152 views

### Understanding the length b used in MD5

I am trying to understand MD5 hash algorithm from the link http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1321.txt At first I was not able to understand padding of MD5. Then I asked a question in this link: To ...
107 views

### Should I be concerned about padding oracle attacks if the lifespan of my key is ~1 minute?

I'm using 4096-bit RSA to encrypt a 256-bit AES key generated client-side. The RSA ciphertext is then sent to the server, and the server decrypts the RSA ciphertext to acquire the AES key. ...
257 views

### Proof that a hash matches an encrypted file

Assume that Alice has a file $F$ which she is going to send, in encrypted form to Bob. Alice possesses $F$ and an encryption key $K$. She sends to Bob the encryption of $F$ using $K$, $E(F,K)$ as ...
118 views

### Counting points on elliptic curve over binary field

How to count number of rational points on elliptic curve over binary field?
98 views

### Is it safe to use cipher block sizing instead of padding?

I'm using this kind of technique instead of padding of cipher buffer (here goes pseudo-code): ...
101 views

### How to find 64 collisions for a hash value?

The first block $M_0$ is one of 64 possible values, whereas the next six blocks $M_1...M_6$ are chosen randomly. The idea is to publish the SHA-1 hash of $M_0...M_6$, wait for the value of $M_0$ to be ...
251 views

### Construct IND-CPA secure encryption scheme by combining two given schemes

I have two encryption schemes $\Pi_0, \Pi_1$, at least one of them is IND-CPA secure but I don't know which one. The task is to construct a scheme $\Pi$ that is guaranteed to be CPA secure and to ...
100 views

### Decisional Diffie-Hellman: compute Legendre symbol of $g^{ab}$ from $g^a$ and $g^b$?

From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decisional_Diffie%E2%80%93Hellman_assumption: Importantly, the DDH assumption does not hold in the multiplicative group $\mathbb {Z} _{p}^{*}$, where $p$ is ...
I am supposed to implement ECC over binary field (in C++) for equations of the type - $y^2 + xy = x^3 + ax + b$, as my project. I wish to include the following features : The user will enter a prime ...