# All Questions

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### Are there any known inverse hash lookups for the zero string?

Just wondering, are there any known inverse hashes / hash lookups in common hashes (md5, sha1, sha2, etc.) for the zero string hash value? (i.e. bytes 0x00 00 00 00 00 ...) Or more specifically, for ...
250 views

### Difference between statistical PRNG and cryptographic PRNG? [duplicate]

What's the difference between a statistical pseudorandom number generator (PRNG) and a cryptographic-strength PRNG? I've seen a lot of PRNGs that are proposed for statistical uses -- e.g., ...
505 views

### How secure is file header encryption for large files?

I'm having trouble location information about whether or not encrypting a file's header is good enough. The files in question are media files that range in size from 500mb to 4GB. If I had no ...
153 views

### Discrepancy with reported key size for EDE ciphers in Qualys SSL Labs

The following two cipher suites were reported by Qualys SSL Labs as being 112-bit: SSL_CK_DES_192_EDE3_CBC_WITH_MD5 TLS_RSA_WITH_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA However, all other references I can find say that ...
1k views

### Kryptos : K2. What is the origin of the “abscissa” keyword?

I'm studying the Kryptos sculpture with its cryptographic puzzles K1 to K4. Similar to the "palimsest" keyword for K1, the keyword "abscissa" for K2 was determined by brute-force. To better ...
279 views

### Subgroups generators with respect to group generators of composite order

If I have a group $\mathcal{G}$ of order $N=npq$ and subgroups $\mathcal{G_n,G_p,G_q}$ of order $n$, $p$, $g$ respectively and if $g$ is a generator of $\mathcal{G}$ why then $g^{nq}$ is a generator ...
153 views

### Entropy in relation to computer security [closed]

I am going over some lecture notes and my lecturer is off sick, so not sure where to turn. There is this equation that I cannot understand as it's given with a couple of examples. I was hoping ...
422 views

### curve25519 weak points for contributory behaviour

The Diffie-Hellman on curve25519 is usually calculated using the base point $(9,…)$ which induces a cyclic subgroup of $G:=\{\infty\}\cup(E(F_{p^2})\cap(F_p\times F_p))$ with index 8, i.e. there is a ...
538 views

### How to calculate AES logarithm table?

I would like to know how to find multiplicative inverses in $\mathrm{GF}(2^8)$. I know how to multiply two elements of $\mathrm{GF}(2^8)$ (for example, I know that ...
187 views

### Split 32-bit LFSR into two 16-bit LFSR which xor to same sequence [duplicate]

Today I was thinking about exactly this. Is it possible, for a 32-bit LFSR e.g. ...
156 views

### What is the keyspace of ROT-13?

Today I was having a discussion with my cryptography lecturer about the keyspace of a ROT-13 cipher. He argues that the keyspace is 0 because it doesn't have a key. Could anyone explain to me why the ...
127 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 ...
346 views

### Deduplication: Encrypting the SHA-256 hash of a file chunk

I'm designing a data storage system that should be both able to deduplicate data that share the same encryption key, and be reasonably secure. I know that this kind of encryption quality can be ...
3k views

### In what way is XXTEA really vulnerable?

I'm looking at using the XXTEA algorithm to encrypt a small amount of data (say, less than 32KB) in the context of a software licensing algorithm. That is, we wish to make it difficult (not ...
287 views

### Share encrypted files without giving master key

Imagine I have four files I want to encrypt. I have master key, and from that master key I derive four keys, one for each file: ...
213 views

### What is a good way to demonstrate elliptic curve cryptography?

For school (high school) I am writing an essay on elliptic curve cryptography. The assignment needs to include a practical part, so I decided to write a Python class for elliptic curves. This class is ...
105 views

### Public key encryption [duplicate]

I am not getting whole idea behind Public Key Encryption technique. As according to fact, public key encryption method uses two keys a public key known to everyone private key known only to recipient ...
130 views

### Loss of data due to encryption

Could any kind of encryption method (AES, etc.) lead to data loss like in lossy compression? I'm interested if data (lossy compressed, lossless compressed, uncompressed) that is encrypted and ...
289 views

### fuzzy commitment implemenation to make secure biometric template

I want implement some ideas from an article that is about making secure biometric templates using fuzzy commitment and fuzzy vault. I need to implement just the fuzzy commitment (fuzzy commitment is a ...
388 views

### How to roll my own hardware RNG?

I am considering building a hardware RNG myself using cheap parts. Is this a good idea and safe enough? Random sources: amplified Zener noise from one randomly chosen ...
654 views

### How do I convert the definition of E-521 into a curve definition a la Bouncy Castle?

I am currently trying to create an ECCCurve for E-521. Unfortunately, it is not currently a named curve in the library I am using, so I will have to define it manually. I am using the definition of ...
109 views

### Interested in learning cryptography [duplicate]

I'm interested in learning cryptography outside the university(studying civil engineering). I was always interested in computer sciences and programing and in mathematics. I always try to program ...
523 views

### Encryption for a short packet size

I have an 8051 microcontroller with a radio that can send packets with up to 32 bytes and I want to have the messages encrypted. It is a sensor network so I really only want to send one packet per ...
7k views

### What is the difference between CSPRNG and PRNG?

What is the difference between CSPRNG and PRNG? Is there performance differential between them? For example: We use PRNG for key generation which is very expensive and CSPRNG for IV/nonce in block ...
171 views

### NTRU key generation

I've been experimenting with an NTRU open-source C implementation here I've noticed something (potentionally) strange with a certain set of params: NTRU_EES1087EP2 (defined here). When generating ...
426 views

### How many bits of entropy would I get from 300 coin tosses? [closed]

Bonus question, what is the formula to calculate this?
2k views

### Are there any Secp256k1 ECDSA test examples available?

Are there any available test cases for testing elliptic curves like secp256k1 (Korblitz curves from http://www.secg.org/collateral/sec2_final.pdf)? For curves like P192 there are for example those ...
245 views

### Are there cryptographic hash functions which do not have any collisions?

I've been studying digital signatures and hash functions recently, and I was wondering: Do hash functions exist which will never produce collisions?
5k views

### Is there a hash function which has no collisions?

Is there a hash function which has no collisions? To clarify: it would be some function which would produce variable-length output, and never produce the same output for differing input. It would ...
317 views

### Discrete logarithm modulo a smooth number

I am solving the discrete logarithm problem modulo $N$. $N$ is a composite number, I found its factors — lots of small primes and two big primes ($> 2^{50}$). Does the factorization of $N$ somehow ...
2k views

### How will Cryptography be changed by Quantum Computing?

I realise this isn't a 'yes or no' question, and I apologise for asking something that could be seen as a discussion thread, but I had to ask. I'm currently doing an EPQ in CS (specifically how QC ...
105 views

### Analyzing security flaws of cipher

I know using homebrew encryption can be very dangerous as it is very likely to have many flaws in its design. The following concept is just for learning purpose in case anybody is getting red flags ...
290 views

### what is it called when encrypt('a') + encrypt('a') == encrypt('aa')?

So normally if you do encrypt('a') twice in a row you'll get the same result. But sometimes (as is the case in SSH) this is not desirable. You want encrypt('a') + encrypt('a') == encrypt('aa'). What ...
316 views

### Performance bottlenecks in Paillier encryption

I'm implementing Paillier encryption and I'd like some recommendations about improving its performance. Firstly, I have to note the following: I have already set g=1+n to get rid of one ...
121 views

### Is my method symmetric encryption?

To obfuscate data I made up this method on the spot without planning since the goal wasn't real encryption. At first I though this cannot be real encryption but after revisiting the code and reading ...
174 views

### Transforming a key into a seed with the most entropy

I'm making a very simple encrypter in C# which is basically a Stream cipher. The user enters a key(password), converted to a seed for a pseudo-random generator, and the pseudo-random generator ...
155 views

### Luby-Rackoff on Feistel ciphers [closed]

On page 46 of these lecture notes, it seems to say that if we have a Feistel cipher, and plaintexts $(L_0, R_0)$ and $(L_0^*, R_0^*)$ with corresponding encryptions, then we can determine the key? But ...
250 views

### Why are there no MACs inspired by block cipher modes other than CBC and CFB?

I've been studying message authentication codes and I was wondering why a MAC can only be produced with AES in CBC and CFB mode and why not the other modes such as ECB, OFB and counter. Why are CBC ...
182 views

### How are calculated numbers in AES S-box? [duplicate]

My question is how to calculate the 0x02 value of AES S-Box? I followed this explanation, but my answer is not correct. 0x02 is ...
268 views

### C# implementation of curve25519 to ed25519 conversions [closed]

WRT the selected answer here: Can curve25519 keys be used with ed25519 keys? Is there any c# implementation of this or equivalent? Thanks.
170 views

### How exactly to extract information base 10 from a PGP RSA key pair?

I think I understand the mathematics of RSA ok. I'm not so computer savvy though. How, exactly, can I extract $n$, $e$, $d$, $p$ and $q$ from a PGP RSA public key pair? Is there like a converter ...
5k views

### RSA 4096 bit key benchmark

How can I benchmark RSA operations on my computer? I want to know about 4096-bit long keys on general computers. How many encryptions and decryptions are possible per second? All benchmarks I found ...
265 views

### RSA - Why should we sign hash rather than raw content? [duplicate]

Apart from obvious performance considerations, is there any mathematical or crypto reasons that imply that we sign a hash rather than a raw content ? I read that it was because the hash must fit in ...
139 views

### Relations between RSA and DLOG, factoring and DLOG

Definition: (The generalized Diffie-Hellman problem) Let $n=pq$ for two large primes $p,q$. Given $x, x^a, x^b,n$, find $x^{ab}\pmod{n}$. (1) Is there a known reduction from the GDH problem ...
237 views

### Smart Card - Entropy during on-board public key generation

I know that some (advanced) smart cards or tokens allow generating key pair directly on the device, but I wonder how the card can gather entropy during the process. Any idea ?
428 views

### Attack an stream cypher using 2 XORed LFSRs

We know that the Key were generated by 2 16Bit LFSRs (output of both is XORed together -> key) I already extracted a 64 Bit key sequence, but how can I calculate the polynom of the LFSRs (and the ...
89 views

As always we are trying to improve password storage; before just adding new ways of storing our password we need to define what threats we will mitigate by adding in a new way to store our password. ...
381 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 ...