# All Questions

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### Collision probability of MD5 over different attacks

I am researching the collision probability of MD5 and various attacks against it. Can someone help me how to learn the least probability that there will be a collision in a specific attack on MD5? ...
48 views

### Ciphertext and tag size and IV transmission with AES in GCM mode

I am completely new to using AES in GCM mode of operation, and I have not a very large background in cryptography as well. I have been playing with OpenSSL trying to encrypt and decrypt some messages. ...
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### What's the GCM-SHA 256 of a TLS protocol?

If we read the Google line information about how the cypher the https communication, it reads: TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256 I understand it's using ...
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### Will adding space to the Vigenère block make it truly unbreakable?

I just have gotten into cryptography and learned about the Vigenère block. I think it's a very good idea because, if used correctly, it is unbreakable. But the only downsite is, the key must be the ...
218 views

### Elliptic curve brute forcing

I have elliptic curve of equation $y^2 \equiv x^3 -x$. And the coordinate of points $Q$ and $P$. I want to solve $Q=[k]P$ (where $k$ is the unknown) by testing all possible $k$. Is this the right ...
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### Where are the ChaCha20 test vectors/examples?

I see in the Salsa20 specification there are test examples throughout the document to help an implementer make sure every function works as designed. Consequently the whole algorithm would work ...
95 views

### Why are cryptographically secure hashes required for digital signing (RSA or DSA)?

I know that a cryptographically secure hashing algorithm is required for proper message signing (SHA-1, or I think SHA-2 is the current suggested algorithm). However, why does the hashing algorithm ...
259 views

### Can we quantify strength of encryption scheme ?

Was wondering if we have any (or can we come up with) "units" for strength of encryption like in Physics. Most of our comparative analysis of encryption schemes are based on number of S boxes or ...
114 views

### Do I have to transfer the private key to digitally sign a remote document?

I'm trying to digitally sign a document which is uploaded by a user. I want the user to sign that document using his digital signing certificate (DSC). Should I: transfer the file to the user, and ...
128 views

### Using the same symmetric key in both directions?

A simple symmetric encryption scheme uses the same key, derived from a password, for both directions of the communication. Is this bad practice, and if so what should be done about it? Is it 'good ...
164 views

### Is the output of AES-CBC + MAC the same size as the input?

I use AES-CBC and HMAC-SHA256 to encrypt a text file. Will the output be larger in size than the input or will it be the same size? Is it more secure secure if the size of the output is larger?
142 views

### How can CBC-MAC be secure when message length is fixed?

I was doing some self-initiated knowledge gathering about digests, signatures and hmacs and I ran across the fact that you can use CBC as a MAC, but if the message size is not fixed; then it is not ...
107 views

### How a file is encrypted?

I thought encryption algorithms(like AES) are used to encrypt texts,so how a file or folder(containing pictures,videos,...) is encrypted?What is encrypted exactly?
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### The use of the term “sound” in cryptography [closed]

We often see the term "sound" in cryptography. What is the sense of this word ? Thank you.
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### Is SEAL 3.0 broken?

I'll like to know if SEAL 3.0 (cf http://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/papers/seal.pdf) is broken. I stumbled on Bernstein's website that claimed that SEAL 3.0 has been broken. (cf ...
166 views

### File format of an $2048$ bits RSA public key

From here, there are $14$ bytes specifying the file format of the key. I am still quite confused about the format bytes. For example, the following public key 30 82 01 0a 02 82 01 01 00 8e a3 d1 c7 ...
65 views

### Is equal length of primes in Paillier cryptosystem is mandate for security reasons?

In continuation to this question about length of primes , I am in doubt about the restriction on length of primes itself . In Paillier cryptosystem , equal length of primes are used . My doubt is ...
224 views

### Does google's Crypto.JS AES encryption use PBKDF2 as default?

Does google's Crypto.JS AES encryption use PBKDF2 as default? Some references, but I can't figure out the answer myself: https://code.google.com/p/crypto-js/#The_Cipher_Algorithms ...
188 views

### Security of chameleon hash functions

With the knowledge of the trapdoor, we are able to compute the same digest for differents messages. I've read that given two messages $m$, $m'$ and two numbers $r$, $r'$ such that ...
217 views

### How do RSA and ElGamal key sizes compare?

I have a rather silly question regarding the comparison of RSA with ElGamal over integers. If you want to compare their performance in the same level of security, does the modulus of both of them need ...
145 views

### Weak key schedule IDEA [closed]

Why was such a weak key schedule chosen for IDEA? The key schedule of IDEA works like this: Divide the key (128 bit) into 8 round keys, each 16 bit long. This are the first 8 "round" keys (6 keys per ...
278 views

### How do disk encryption programs solve the “IV problem”?

I was reading a paper on the "elephant diffuser" used in BitLocker and it got me wondering how other systems (e.g. TrueCrypt before it shutdown) solved the problem the elephant diffuser was meant to ...
111 views

### Are password salts equivalent to keystream?

I was reading up on keystream when I came upon the definition of it: A keystream is a stream of random or pseudorandom characters that are combined with a plaintext message to produce an encrypted ...
286 views

### What's the point of a Meet In The Middle attack using i.e. double AES with throw-away keys?

What's the point of a Meet In The Middle attack while using, for example, a double AES encryption and using one time keys? You can recover the keys for a secret message already known and you can't use ...
111 views

### Efficiently map $2^n$ unique 64-bit vectors to $2^n$ $n$-bit vectors where $n < 64$? [closed]

Is there an efficient way to map $2^n$ unique 64-bit vectors to $2^n$ $n$-bit vectors where $n < 64$?
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### Is it insecure to encrypt the wrong plaintext?

Most plaintext must be fed as a string or a binary object to be encrypted. However, it's often possible to mis-decode the plaintext before encrypting it. i.e. If it's received as a string in JSON, ...
116 views

### Adding an IV to an AES implementation

I have an embedded project that requires AES, I seem to have found an AES implementation that fits the bill here: http://www.literatecode.com/aes256, but it does not include an IV. Are there any ...
75 views

### Process of dividing 168bit key into 56bit keys in TripleDES

I used TripleDES so many times but never thought about this. In TripleDES it requires 168bit ...
197 views

### Combining Random Hashes - avoiding collisions and ensuring randomness

I have a series of integers which I want to convert to random integer (64 bit). The idea here is to produce random numbers very quickly. The issues that good quality random numbers are required with a ...
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### Key cracking: Prefer many small texts over one large text?

If an attackers sets out to crack the symmetric key of e.g. AES-CTR, would they prefer to have access to many small cryptotexts or one large cryptotext? I.e. is it more interesting for the attacker to ...
144 views

### Functions that are only second-preimage resistant?

Are there functions that satisfy the second-preimage resistance property without satisfying the others (preimage and collision resistance) ? I'm looking about such functions that compress data (exit ...
175 views

### Is CTS necessary on a AES-CBC DRBG?

As I understand it, CTS pads the last block and swaps it with the second last to compensate for a partial block of data. I have written a DRBG (Deterministic Random Bit Generator) using AES-CBC that ...
151 views

### What are the major flaws and limitations of this hash-based stream cipher design?

K is a 224-bit key. C is a 32-bit counter; it is publicly known. the same value is never used twice. ...
152 views

### Is it possible to find data which makes sense when decrypted with different keys?

In theory, does a piece of data exist which, when encrypted (using any method) with a given key, makes some sense when decrypted with the wrong key? Here, a definition of "some sense" might be ...