# All Questions

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### How does knowing the factorization of N can help to obtain the secret?

Assuming $x=a^2 \pmod n$ and knowing $x$, $p$, $q$ how is it possible to obtain $a$?
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### Is it a bad idea to use PGP encryption for structured/predictable data?

I'm working on an app and need to encrypt some structured data. The data will be turned into a string form (JSON) before getting encrypted. The data format I'm using will always start with a ...
109 views

### Are there any quantum-resistant symmetric encryption schemes?

It seems that quite a few currently available encryption schemes will possibly be broken by quantum computing. Are there any symmetric encryption schemes that will remain unbroken (either because of ...
135 views

### Power analysis and exponentiation by squaring

I am trying to understand how one can retrieve the secret exponent via a simple power analysis. Lets suppose that the exponentiation by squaring algorithm is implemented in its simplest form : ...
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### Does Windows CNG store private information using LSA secrets?

I read that LSA Secrets have the capability of storing data privately, more importantly, ensuring that users without proper permissions cannot access that same data. Windows CNG has security measure ...
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### How to choose the integer m in the general number field sieve (GNFS)?

Given an integer you want to factor $N$, GNFS starts by selecting a monic irreducible polynomial $f \in \mathbb{Z}[X]$ and an integer $m$ such that $f(m) \equiv 0 \text{ mod } N$. In practice, if $m$ ...
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### If you hashed a hash an infinite number of times would you end up with a unique hash?

If you took a hashing algorithm for example MD5 and repeatedly passed the output hash back into the algorithm an arbitrarily large number of times would you eventually end up with one unique hash? My ...
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### Collision attacks on digital signatures

After reading this document about MD5 collision attacks, I still don't understand how collisions can make digital signatures insecure. In the paper, the researchers created two files with the same ...
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### Can I use the output from a DRBG directly as K for AES, or do I need to use a key generator algorithm?

NIST has 3 validated "Recommendation for Random Number Generation Using Deterministic Random Bit Generators" (DRBG's) that are based on NIST SP 800-90A: Hash_DRBG (based on hash functions) ...
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### How to select a 'tweak' used in FE1 mode format preserving encryption?

I'm experimenting with this library Botan which includes a module for format preserving encryption based on FE1 mode. The parameters for the Encrypt method are as follows ...
309 views

### Block cipher does not provide security by itself

What is this statement all about? When I look at a block cipher it seems pretty hard to break it and the mathematics behind insure a good complexity. It may refer to key generation, initialization ...
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### What is sLHAE (stateful length-hiding authenticated encryption)?

Can somebody please explaint me how does sLHAE works in TLS? I met this term in some TLS papers and struggled to understand how it works, specifically the "length-hiding" part.As to my understanding ...
173 views

### Key space vs Cardinality of 1024-bit RSA

I have been trying to figure out the encryption key space, and cardinality of 1024-bit RSA. From my understanding, the key generated from 1024-bit will be primes greater than $2^{1023}$ but less than ...
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### Can Winternitz be easily converted to a many-time encryption scheme?

The Winternitz scheme is typically cited as being an OTS scheme. Can it also be used as a one-time encryption scheme? If it can be used as a one-time encryption scheme, then is it possible to easily ...
92 views

### SHA-512 partial preimage

I was looking at how SHA-512 works, and I have a question. Imagine I want an input $N$ of 512 bits whose hash in hexadecimal starts with the digits 12345678. How ...
83 views

### Is it safe to derive two different keys with the same password and key derivation function using two different salts?

I would like to know if the following process would harm the security of a fictional system if the persisted data would be stolen: in this system a user has a single password. The password will be ...
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### Why aren't zero-knowledge proofs used for authentication in practice?

I read on Wikipedia that zero-knowledge proofs are not used for authentication in practice. Instead (I think) the server is entrusted with seeing a password in plaintext form, which it should then add ...
4k views

### Is it fair to assume that SHA1 collisions won't occur on a set of <100k strings

I'm building a system that has to take file paths, and generate a unique name for each one. I'm planning on using SHA1 as the hash function. My question is: do I have to deal with possible collisions ...
43 views

### Reducing the keyspace for a brute force attack on a chained 64-bit xor

I have a block of data which I know is encrypted using a chained 64-bit xor (sorry if that makes no sense, I'm not familiar with crypto lingo). I know a little bit about what the plaintext should look ...
398 views

### What do $0^n$ and $1^n$ mean in cryptography?

Let $f$ = $\{f_k\}$ be a pseudorandom function family. Let $G(x)$ be a pseudo-random generator such that: $G(x) = f_x(0^k)f_x(1^k)$ where $k=|x|$. I don't understand the meaning of $1^n$ ...
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### What crypto scheme should I use on embedded m2m system with assymetric uplink/downlink bandwidth?

I am working on implementing info security into custom m2m radiolink communication system, which has some restrictions: MCU based endpoint can transmit to gateway with packets max 16 bytes long, and ...
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### Why are there no OTP ciphers?

We all know the OTP is unbreakable and we all love the OTP (judging by the amount of question on this site). The strength of the OTP is not that it is unable to find a word without the key but you ...
36 views

### Decrypting DES - limited information

I have a list of DES encrypted strings/data, they come in two lengths, 32 chars hex (16 bytes) or - I believe - 64 chars. I know the key, which is 8 ascii chars (I might add that I am the rightful ...
21 views

### FIPS 113 Computer Data Authentication

on the NIST website for Message authentication There is a mention of 2 approved algorithms, i am curious about the first one. the link to FIPS 113, Computer Data Authentication appears to be dead ...
439 views

### What are words in a HASH algorithms

From wikipedia: "They differ in the word size; SHA-256 uses 32-bit words where SHA-512 uses 64-bit words." In this context what do they mean with words? is it the same as a 32 bit (or 64 bit) block ...
34 views

I read about zero knowledge proofs. Let's say you want to create an account at a website. You choose a password $p$ and from $p$ you derive deterministically a public & private key pair $(e,d)$ ...
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### What can cause similar MD5 hashes

I have a set of MD5 hashes with huge similarities in the second half of the hash, (made up) examples: ...
45 views

### Why does the ElGamal signature have the specific form that it does?

In the original paper, ElGamal(1985) starts his discussion of signatures by saying: "The signature ..... is chosen such that the equation: $\alpha^m = y^r r^s \text{mod p}$ (equation 3 from the ...
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### arithmetic calculation problem to quadratic arithmetic program

I am reading the Pinocchio paper (verifiable computation): http://research.microsoft.com/pubs/180286/pinocchio.pdf The paper is rather hard for me. I am considering this calculation problem: ...
48 views

### Zero knowledge / proof of knowledge sudoku solution

I recently started a coursera course "cryptography 1" provided by Stanford university. In one point when explaining zero proof knowledge the instructor mentions the following: Almost any puzzle ...
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### Is it possible to create a “proof-of-upload” system for BitTorrent ratio tracking?

One issue that private BitTorrent trackers that track users' share ratios often run into is how to keep track of people who are screwing with their upload statistics, something known as ...
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### Why must the sender and receiver be synchronised in synchronous stream ciphers?

I would like to know why the sender and receiver must be synchronized in synchronous stream ciphers as said in Synchronous stream cipher. Why is there no synchronization between the sender and ...
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### Paillier Encryption: problems with double encryption

Given have two public keys $k1$ and $k2$, $E_{k1}(E_{k2}(m_1))$ and $m_2$. Is it possible to calculate $E_{k1}(E_{k2}(m_1 + m2))$? (or with multiplication instead of addition) At a first glance, I ...
73 views

### How to attack the Two Time Pad?

I encrypt 2 random keys with the same 'one' time pad. You can get both encrypted keys. You don't know anything besides the size. Is there a way to attack the two time pad in this scenario? And what ...
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### Looking for encryption algorithm not subject to known-plaintext attack with IV reuse

I've encountered an interesting problem where we can basically say the following: We need to encrypt messages, but we have no room to store IVs. We can synthesize IVs; however an attacker would be ...
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### Adding a Random component to CBC MAC in order to enlarge the tag space

CBC MAC that is using AES as the underlying block cipher, has tag space of 2^128. If we add a random single block, concatenating it with the tag, and encrypt it again in AES CBC mode, with additional ...
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### Why Might XOR's Lead to Hash Functions Lacking 2nd Pre-image Resistance?

My hash function is as follows: Cut the string in half (assume even length of 2m) XOR's the two halves together Take the result of the XOR and pass it to a function (a one-to-one and "onto" ...
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### Encryption of plain text using stream cipher algorithm

We know that in stream cipher algorithms plain text and generated key are Xored byte by byte. Generated key depends on how much plain text there is and on that basis key will generate and plain text ...
42 views

### Matsui's Linear attack on DES P box

I'm trying to understand Matsui's linear attack on DES and I have something I don't understand in his paper. In his paper he say that: $NS_{5}(16,15)=12$ (which is OK) and from that he say that: ...
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### Permuted vectors

Consider we have two vectors $v_1, v_2$ of size $n$, and each vector contains $n$ elements. We permute the vectors as: $\pi (k_1,v_1), \pi (k_2,v_2)$. Where $\pi (k_i,v)$ denotes a permutation of a ...
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### Is a padding oracle attack possible if data is only encrypted internally on a server (e.g. for storage)?

I read something about the padding oracle attack when analysing the use of an AES-encryption of data in a database and was "scared" it could be a serious issue. But after investigating a bit further, ...
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### How do revocation certificates work in PGP?

I've already read how to build and upload them, but I'm wondering how revocation certificates work, what informations they hold and so on. Suppose my private key is compromised, but I have a ...
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### Is the Salsa20/ChaCha20 keystream generation one-way?

Is it possible to recompute the Salsa20 or ChaCha20 key in a realistic time if the keystream and the nonce are given to an attacker? Or is the keystream generation one-way, like a cryptographic has ...