# All Questions

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What is the advantage of AEAD ciphers? Why is the TLS working group pushing for them? I thought modern cipher suites require SHA256 for authentication. What advantage is there to including Poly1305? ...
491 views

### Is there a multiple asymmetric encryption algorithm, which requires all private keys to reveal the secret?

I am looking for an asymmetric encryption algorithm, which allows to encrypt a secret with multiple public keys, but to reveal the secret all private keys must be used. You shouldn't be able to tell ...
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### What does signed fixed window method mean in ECC?

I am studying (sliding) window method in Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) but I am confused by the term, signed fixed window method. By the way term is used in a research paper and not in the book ...
348 views

### Weaker alternative to Ed25519?

For me, the main advantages of Ed25519 are that it avoids patents (by computing in one dimension) and that it is fast. However, the 128bit security of Ed25519 is sometimes too strong to comply with ...
114 views

### What practical uses can random hash collisions be put to?

Using magic, I've built a machine that instantly generates hash collisions. To try it out, I set the dial to SHA256 and typed in "e7cf3ef4f17c3999a94f2c6f612e8a888e5b1026878e4e19398b23bd38ec221a". I ...
2k views

### Key Length vs KeySpace

I am a newbie here, this is my first post. I have searched the forum but I haven't found a clear answer to this. In general. What is the relationship between key length and the keyspace? (if there ...
397 views

### Plaintext XOR'd with keylength-shifted plaintext

While solving a (easy...) Project Euler cipher problem this week I repeatedly saw instructions for breaking ciphers after identifying the keylength as: 'shift the ciphertext by that key length and ...
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### For which RSA moduli, precisely, is $e=d$ for all $e$?

This question shows that there are at least two valid RSA moduli $n$, namely $35$ and $91$, such that for any $e$ coprime to $\lambda(n)$, $$e^2\equiv1\mod\lambda(n)\text.$$ Reading the linked ...
395 views

### Statistical properties of hash functions when calculating modulo

When using SHA-1 to hash an input, the result is a pseudo-random number in the numeric ID space $\{0\dots2^{160}-1\}$. Do I loose any statistical property in the result if I use modulo to restrict the ...
166 views

### Do data-dependent rotations have any advantage over fixed rotations?

There are many ARX ciphers, however most use fixed rotations. I know data-dependent compared to fixed rotations are: patented harder to implement constant time more expensive in hardware harder to ...
318 views

### Is it possible to demonstrate that md5(x) != x for any x?

I am looking for an easy to follow explanation, if possible, that demonstrates/proves the validity (or not!) of this assertion: for any X, md5(X) != X (being X any string of 32 hex characters)
315 views

### Simple proof that shows AES is not a uniform permutation on any n-bit string?

Is there a simple proof that shows AES is not a uniform permutation on any $n$-bit string? Since I'm just starting with crypto, I'd like to see a simple yet elegant proof for the said property. ...
1k views

### Chosen plaintext attack on textbook RSA decryption

Let $(n,d)$ be an RSA private key and $(n,e)$ the corresponding public key. Generate a secret random $r$ from $(\mathbb{Z}/n\mathbb{Z})^*$ Compute $C’ = C (r^e) \bmod n$ Submit $C’$ as a chosen ...
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### Security equivalent to Diffie–Hellman problem?

I've been doing the security proof for one of my Theorem. Basically, given $g^a$, $g^b$, $g^{cb}$, $g$ and $c$ as known values. Is the problem of computing $g^{acb^{-1}}$ equivalent to the Diffie ...
1k views

### Why does AES-GCM need a hash/MAC in TLS?

"TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256" is just one example for a cipher suite, as far as I'm concerned it means this: It uses the TLS protocol, exchanges keys with Elliptic Curve Diffie Hellman ...
1k views

### Generate a unique 64 bit numeric database key without collisions at $2^{32}$ birthday threshold?

What is the best way to generate a unique 64 bit numeric database key from a string? For example: if the string is a URL, you could generate a 64 bit key using SipHash or by truncating a SHA256 hash ...
309 views

### Does ECIES imply authenticity?

Assume: Alice and Bob both generate separate EC keypairs Alice obtains Bob's public key, and together with her private key creates a shared secret key Alice encrypts a message using the shared key ...
217 views

### Advantages to knowing $p$ and $q$ in Blum Blum Shub?

Do you gain any advantage by knowing the factorization of $M$ (over just knowing $M$ itself) in the Blum Blum Shub generator? The only advantage I see is being able to calculate the $i$-th number ...
522 views

### security in the standard model → random oracle model?

Can a protocol proved secure in the standard model be considered secure in the random oracle model?
2k views

### TLS Key Block calculation - What is a PRF?

In Section 6.3 of the RFC for TLS 1.2, it is written that the key_block is derived from the following formula: ...
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### Is it possible to tweak AES-GCM so that it is satisfactory for whole-disk encryption (like XTS mode)?

Is it possible to leverage a preexisting implementation of AES-GCM to provide the key security benefits essential for full-disk encryption (similar to AES-XTS)? GCM is a popular encryption mode ...
172 views

### What makes LSBit steganography detectable? And what would help in concealing it?

In a project of mine I took a 24-bit bitmap image and I performed LSBit steganography over it (saved a black and white image inside each of the planes R, G, B) using pixel shuffling and xor encryption....
393 views

### Help in understanding exactly how lattices used as one way functions for hashing

I am doing a cryptography course via long distance and we have been given an assignment which is based on lattice-based cryptography. I have spent the majority of the past week sifting through papers ...
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### Signing the hash of a key with the same key

Given a private signature key sk and a public signature key SK, does revealing sk(H(SK)) (in ...
248 views

### A specific way for deniable encryption

I read the summary of deniable encryption on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deniable_encryption Then I read a question, by doom123 on security.SE: https:/...
324 views

### Cryptographically secure product keys

I am looking for a scheme to generate and validate cryptographically secure product keys. My requirements are: Unforgeable. It must be impossible (or at least very hard) for users to forge a product ...
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### Maximal-length LFSR with $n$ bits when the factorization of $2^n-1$ is unavailable?

There's a classical method to efficiently test if a LFSR with $n$ bits is maximal-length (or equivalently, if the feedback polynomial is primitive), when the factorization of $2^n-1$ is available. Do ...
4k views

### At what stage is DHE and RSA used during the SSL/TLS handshake?

At what stage of the SSL/TLS handshake is the DHE and RSA used and what is the purpose of using a pre-master secret when you could just use RSA to exchange the symmetric key (i.e. AES) for further ...
271 views

### counting points on elliptic curve

Given an elliptic curve with equation $y^2=x^3+ax+b$, and i want to find the number of points $(a,b)\in E(\mathbb{F}_p)$ where the polynomial has repeated roots, how do i do it? I have an intuition it ...
1k views

### Difference between Pedersen commitment and commitment based on ElGamal

Does any of you know what is the difference between the Pedersen commitment and the commitment that uses the ElGamal encryption scheme? For the sake of completeness, I recall what both of them look ...
147 views

### How can two (or more) parties share and agree upon a common random seed?

I really don't know how to call this simple problem: Two (or more) parties need to establish a common (non-secret) value to be used as a seed for a deterministic RNG. The only requirement is that each ...
344 views

### Does encrypting a hash of the message yield a secure MAC?

Is $mac = enc(hash(x))$ a secure MAC for hash = SHA256 and enc AES in CBC mode or ECB mode. Normally AES-CBC is malleable. But in this case I use a hash function for the one-way property. For ...
157 views

### Why are huge prime numbers important in cryptography?

I read an article the other day about the search for prime numbers. According to the article and several online sources the biggest prime number is over 17 million digits! This made me wonder why ...
388 views

### Re-using parts of a one time pad to encrypt a new one?

The main problem with OTP's is the fact that they can only be used once. Would it be possible to use a random number that's, say, 512 digits, then use 256 of those for the (non-random) message, the ...
387 views

### How much does a successful Distinguishing Attack “break” the attacked stream cipher?

I started reading about the most recent cryptanalysis of RC4 and it's variants. One of the papers I just finished reading ("Two Linear Distinguishing Attacks on VMPC and RC4A and Weakness of RC4 ...
392 views

### bcrypt and pbkdf2 double hashing

If I want to protect myself from implementation of algorithm issues and inherent design flaws of algorithms in password hashing, what would be most secure way to combine two hashes? bcrypt(pbkdf2(pw)...
191 views

### Could using sequential plaintext uncover AES key?

I am encrypting a string in a format like this: ...
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### Using same AES-GCM setup for multiple packets?

Most cryptographic libraries I've encountered uses some variant of processPlaintext(...) and then doFinal() to produce the ...
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### Can you explain what the AES paper means by “sharing active S-boxes”?

I am reading the "Biclique cryptanalysis of the full AES" paper. What do they mean by "sharing active S-boxes"? How can this concept can be advantageous to make a bicycle? If there is someone who ...
286 views

### Construct a random permutation from a random function?

How can we construct a (pseudo) random permutation from a (pseudo) random function ? I've seen a method from Luby-Rackoff which allows to construct a PRP of length $2N$ from a PRF of input/output ...
423 views

### What are the standard procedures in cryptanalysis to analyze unknown ciphertext?

What are the "standard procedures in cryptanalysis" to analyze unknown ciphertext? In other words: Are there any protocols, officially acknowledged checklists or something like that which represent a ...
186 views

### Is this exponentation or bitwise XOR

I'm reading about SRP from this page and came accross the line that says a party computes v = g^x I am unfamiliar with reading cryptography texts. Does this mean gx, or g ⊕ x?
3k views

### Knowing the key, how do I decrypt the affine cipher?

I have an encryption function $$E(p) = (ap + b) \mod{26}$$ where the parameters are $a=7$, $b = 10$, and $p$ is the plaintext letter. I was asked to decrypt the ciphertext ...
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### How much data can I encrypt with AES before I need to change the key in CBC mode?

In my cryptography class, the instructor suggested that in order to give the attacker a minimal advantage of $1/2^{32}$, we have to change the key after $2^{48}$ blocks are encrypted. It seems that ...
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### Is there a way to do fair exchange between two parties who don't trust each other?

Let's suppose we have an Alice who knows a secret key A, and Bob who knows key B. Using their own keys, they each encrypt a message (Alice encrypts $m_A$, Bob encrypts $m_B$) with their own key, and ...
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### SHA256 HMAC brute force with chosen plaintext attacks

This is a follow up to Is It Possible To Reconstruct a Cryptographic Hash's Key I am using a SHA-256 HMAC function on a single-word input: sha256hmac(privatekey,word) = output. The private key length ...
333 views

### Ciphers in CBC mode reveal place of change in plaintext

Theoretically, when using a symmetric block cipher in CBC mode, the current block is dependent on the previous block. Suppose one plaintext is encrypted using CBC, and then one bit of it is changed, ...
2k views

### Even passwords are vulnerable to hash collision attacks?

As stated in this page large documents hashed using md5 maybe vulnerable to collision attacks. My question is even passwords of 6-30 character are vulnerable to such hash collision attacks? If yes, is ...