# All Questions

199 views

### multiple keys via HKDF - whats better, one or two applications of HKDF-extract

Assume for the sake of the question that I have two variable-length bit strings, each with 128 bit cryptographic randomness, and I want to extract two 128 bit keys via HKDF-SHA256. Which alternative ...
316 views

### What does ''latency'' really mean when a block cipher is partially unrolled?

Typically，I think latency should mean the time from the first plaintext input to the first ciphertext output, when the block cipher is not totally unrolled (such as AES unrolled with 2 rounds). If I ...
117 views

### Three-way key exchange with elliptic curves without pairing

Assume that there are three users, each with their own secret key $d_i$ and the corresponding public key $Q_i = d_i \cdot P$, such that $Q_i$ is a point on an elliptic curve and $P$ is a base point on ...
249 views

### Snowden Challenge II: Can we solve Snowden challenge quantumly? [closed]

Suppose that tomorrow is July 7, 2050 and Snowden is still stayed in Sheremetyevo airport. Further, let us suppose that quantum computation and quantum commincation are available to everyone, and ...
120 views

### Security of CFB on a public channel

Given a server that broadcasts all received data to all connected peers (except the sender), two participants can have an encrypted conversation using a self-synchronizing method like CFB and some ...
171 views

### No IV for one off symmetric file encryption

My question is (hopefully, for somebody) a simple one; but my project is holding as I'm not sure. I read on SO that generating encryption keys without an IV is a bad idea, so is using a constant IV ...
551 views

### Encrypted counter as IV in CBC mode encryption using same key

I'm currently working with a secure transport protocol that defines the IV to be a counter (incremental nonce) to be encrypted with the same key. This is a followup to a protocol that did not provide ...
351 views

### Can cryptography be used to hide routing information from the router?

If Alice wants to talk to Bob and she has to involve a third party system run by Carol to establish, and possibly maintain, communications, then Carol knows that Alice and Bob communicated with each ...
178 views

### Secure communication between multiple peers on a public channel

I am wondering how can I secure communications between multiple peers over a public channel, like an IRC channel. With two peers it is easy - they exchange their encryption keys and decrypt the ...
225 views

### Does CBC encryption of a hash provide authenticity?

Given a message $M$ and a cryptographic hash function $H$, let $f(M) = E_K(M || H(M))$ where $E_K$ is AES-128-CBC encryption with PKCS#5 padding. Take $H = \textrm{SHA-256}$ if it matters. In other ...
272 views

### Is it possible that two distinct RSA moduli share both of their prime factors?

I am using an algorithm (can be found here1) that can compute efficiently the GCD of multiple RSA keys. It intended for RSA keys that were generated with low entropy and may have one of their primes ...
255 views

### Why have hashes when you have MACs?

It would seem to a naive eye that if you have a MAC, you have a hash function: use a key that all the parties know (such as all-bits-zero). A potential application would be a resource-constrained ...
414 views

### What signature schemes allow recovering the public key from a signature?

It seems to be possible to retrieve the (public) key used for creating an ECDSA signature just from the signature alone. This seems like an interesting property; as far as I know, RSA doesn't share ...
351 views

### Can one have an authentic, but repudiable, message without a previously shared secret?

Bob wants to send a message to Alice, such that Alice can be sure that the message came from Bob, but can't prove it to anyone else. If I understand right, this means that the same message could have ...
475 views

### Keepass Twofish plugin security

Keepass is a well known open-source password manager program, with plugin support. One of the offered plugin is a twofish encryption mode of operation in lieu of the build-in AES algorithm ...
132 views

245 views

### Algorithm Design for only Mutual Information Sharing

Bob and Alice each have a bit string they want to keep private. They each want to know what the bitwise AND of their two strings would be without telling the other or anyone else listening to their ...
2k views

### Is HMAC-DRBG or Hash-DRBG stronger?

Out of the two deterministic random bit generators defined in section 10.1 of NIST SP 800-90A (i.e. based on hash functions), which one is cryptographically stronger? Hash-DRBG (Section 10.1.1) ...
468 views

I have a ciphertext encoded with One Time Pad. I do not know the key. How can I find the possible keys which when decoded, will result in a meaningful plain text?
2k views

### AES key expansion: 256bit key

In AES algorithm, in the key schedule, Why does the expansion of a 256 bit key need an extra application of the S-box, unlike the expansion of 128 bit and 192 bit keys ? (The obvious answer would be ...
1k views

### Any practical uses of machine learning for cryptography?

I am about to go study for my masters in machine learning, data mining and high performance computing, but have recently become very interested in cryptography after taking Dan Boneh's Cryptography ...
2k views

### MIT says: mathematical theory behind encryption is wrong. What are the consequences?

A friend shared with me the following link: Encryption is less secure than we thought I'm not a security expert and could understand great part the article, except the section about noise, but what I ...
1k views

### Approach towards anonymous e-voting

I want to implement an internet-based e-voting system. Voters shall be able to cast their vote for one out of n possible candidates. Each candidate has his own ballot-box kept by and at a trustworthy ...
1k views

### Can Elgamal be made additively homomorphic and how could it be used for E-voting?

Elgamal is a cryptosystem that is homomorphic over multiplication. How can I convert it to an additive homomorphic cryptosystem? How can I use this additive homomorphic Elgamal cryptosystem for ...
144 views

### How to construct a yes/no election protocol, such that only the result is revealed?

Can we use a threshold scheme to construct a (yes/no)-election protocol, such that every voter can give a positive or negative vote or he can abstain, and such that only the result of the election is ...
The Schnorr protocol is a 3-steps proof of knowledge of a discrete logarithm, whose interactive version works as follows. Let $p$ and $q$ be two public primes, such that $q \mid (p-1)$, and let $G$ ...