# All Questions

3k views

### Finding a keylength in a repeating key XOR cipher

In an old cryptography FAQ, I found the following step described for determining a the length of the key a cipher was repeatedly XORed against: Discover the length of the key by counting ...
118 views

### Is it possible to derive the midstate of a sha256 hash?

Let's say I have an unknown string with the known sha256-hash of it. I was wondering if it was possible to now calculate the sha256 of the concatenation of the unknown string and "abc". (In PHP: ...
335 views

### Non-malleable file encryption using AES XTS 256?

I'm looking to do file encryption of a bunch of individual files, some small, some quite large. The files will be write-once/read-many, so I could use CBC, however, since the read-access needs to ...
618 views

### Simple protocol for 1-out-of-2 oblivious transfer

I'm trying to explain the concept of 1-out-of-2 oblivious transfer to folks who haven't seen this idea before. I can explain what properties it provides, but it's also helpful if I can show a simple ...
309 views

### Why are elliptic curves better than cyclic groups?

The set of points of an elliptic curve over a finite field is isomorphic to the direct product of two cyclic groups (i.e. $E(F_{p^n}) \cong Z_{s} \times Z_{t})$. What is the advantage of representing ...
302 views

### Map Bytes to Number

Using node.js crypto library I can generate cryptographically strong bytes. How can I use this to generate a random number between 0 and 9999 (both inclusive)?
164 views

### Digital Signature Scheme Count

My question is How I will be able to count digital signature Scheme that can sign many documents with one private key. There are signature scheme as long as exists private keys in the keys spaces? or ...
2k views

### What are some disadvantages of homomorphic encryption schemes?

I'm doing some self-teaching / research for my own benefit in homomorphic cryptography. I've studied both additive and multiplicative schemes (Pallier and RSA respectively), but all I can seem to ...
140 views

### Signature with appendix

I see sometimes signatures schemes with appendix. This is about signatures schemes in which the message is needed in the verification algorithm, that is, the ouput of the signature algorithm is of the ...
201 views

### How did they factor RSA-704?

I don't understand the 'Wiedemann algorithm' works. Can someone explain the factoring of RSA-704 in an easy way?
502 views

### Is a PBKDF2-derived master key easier cracked if very many Data Protection Keys are derived from it?

I'm referring the NIST document about PBKDF2, NIST Special Publication 800-132, Recommendation for Password-Based Key Derivation, Part 1: Storage Applications, Page 8 and 9, section 5.4 Using the ...
557 views

### If we can find prime numbers larger than 17 milion digits, why can't we find all 1024bit primes? [duplicate]

"Largest Known Prime Number Discovered; Has 17,425,170 Digits" http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130213225424.htm If we can find prime numbers larger than 17 milion digits, why can't we ...
115 views

### How to build a secure AE scheme with generic composition?

I am actually looking for using a secure Encrypt-Then-MAC AE scheme , and consider using either an existing "ready-to-use" dedicated AEAD mode (GCM, OCB, CCM, EAX, etc ..) or an alternate composed ...
341 views

### How practical is proxy re-encryption for AES?

In proxy re-encryption schemes, a proxy is given special information that allows it to translate a ciphertext under one key into a ciphertext of the same message under a different key. How ...
221 views

### Using AES-CBC and providing the IV in file header -> security hole? [duplicate]

currently I audit some code I've written in the past to use KeePass 1.x databases. I stumbled over the following question: The database itself is decrypted with AES-CBC and inside the file header the ...
162 views

### How is key rotation defined?

I'm aware that it's advisable to rotate cryptographic keys periodically. HKDF accepts high-entropy input (IKM - Input Key Material), and expands it to an arbitrary length. It also accepts a salt, ...
70 views

### How does the possible attack on passwords and salts mentioned in PKCS#5 v2.1 work?

From PKCS#5 v2.1, 4.1 Salt (page 6, emphasis by me), also in v2.0, RFC 2898: In password-based encryption, the party encrypting a message can gain assurance that these benefits are realized ...
207 views

I'm playing around with an application for secure email-like communication and I want to perform length hiding padding on the plaintext messages so they always have a consistent size before encrypting ...
427 views

### Help with example RSA problem

While learning about RSA, I found this example problem. The answer is supposed to be "a 4-digit number that is a pattern of digits." I have computed it to be 16657 twice. OK, now to see if you ...
274 views

### How to calculate leaked information from a check digit

Given a check digit calculated using mod 11, of an encrypted numeric sequence of 8 digits, how much information can be known about the plaintext? More specifically, a single 3DES encrypted CBC block ...
1k views

274 views

### Recommended authenticated stream cipher for minimum overhead?

I'm running my TCP/IP protocol secured by encrypting each packet with AES128/CBC, bundling a SHA256 HMAC over that packet. This causes quite a bit of space overhead for small packets, so at first I ...
256 views

### Encrypting and MACing different data with same key

It's a well-known best practice to not use one key to both encrypt and MAC data. In my application, there are instances where I MAC a piece of data without having encrypted it first. Do I still need a ...
215 views

### Is it possible to cryptographically prove when was the last time a ciphertext was decrypted/encrypted?

I want to provide a service that encrypts and decrypts documents and I want to provide the users with proof that I haven't stolen their secret key and read their documents. I know I can prove when a ...
235 views

### How does Poly1305 in the NaCl library calculate a MAC?

I've been reading about Poly1305 as implemented in the NaCl library, more specifically I've been referring to this Java implementation of NaCl. My understanding of XSalsa20Poly1305 (in this ...
221 views

### Can Poly1305 be used with block ciphers running in CTR mode?

Is the use of Poly1305 limited to stream ciphers? (note, I'm not talking about Poly1305-AES )? Can it be used with block ciphers running in CTR mode? If so, what other considerations/limitations are ...