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I recently read the RSA cryptosystem but now I confused in key generation phase. According to the Euler's Theorem, we have just one condition:

e.d = k.ϕ(N) + 1

where:

  • "e" is encryption key.
  • "d" is decryption key.
  • "N" is a number in form of p*q where p and q are both primes.
  • "ϕ(N)" is equal to (p-1)(q-1).

But some of documentations states new conditions as:

  1. e should be small.

  2. gcd(φ(N),e)=1.

  3. e should be an odd number

Now, My question is why I should satisfy these 3 conditions?

I think the second and third conditions are stated just to ensure that "d" is an integer too because of d = (k.φ(N) + 1)/e. Am I correct?

And finally, I think the first conditions is stated to make sure that "d" is enough large. Am I correct?

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why I should satisfy these ?

  1. $e$ should be small.

There's 3 reasons

  • It's in the interest of speed of the public-key operations (encryption and signature verification), which in RSA take time roughly proportional to $\log e$.
  • It ensures compatibility with some implementations, which limit $e$ to 32 (or is it 31) bits.
  • It makes it impossible to use a small $d$, which would ruin security. The question's final paragraph is right about that.

Notice that for mostly historical reasons, you'll also find recommendations that $e$ is not too small. Definitely, $e\le1$ would be a terrible idea. At the end of the day, the most common and unobjectionable is $e=F_4=2^{(2^4)}+1=65537$, where $F_4$ is the largest known Fermat prime.

  1. $\gcd(\varphi(N),e)=1$.

In this, $\varphi(N)$ differs only in notation from $\phi(N)$ or is it $\Phi(N)$ in the question's "$\phi(N)$ is equal to $(p-1)(q-1)$". That's the Euler totient. $\varphi(N)=(p-1)(q-1)$ holds when $N=p\cdot q$ with $p$ and $q$ distinct primes, which is overwhelmingly likely when $p$ and $q$ are primes chosen randomly enough.

And $\gcd(\varphi(N),e)=1$ is necessary for existence of (integers) $k$ and $d$ such that $e\cdot d=k\cdot\varphi(N)+1$.

$e$ should be an odd number.

Unless $p$ or $q$ is $2$, which would be a bad idea, that follows from $e\cdot d = k\cdot(p-1)(q-1)+1$.

I think the second and third conditions are stated just to ensure that $d$ is an integer too because of $d=(k\cdot\varphi(N)+1)/e$.

Uh, no. Integers and bitstrings are about the only data representations in cryptography, and in RSA they are often assimilated per big-endian convention, so everything is an integer.

That exists $k$ with $e\cdot d=k\cdot\varphi(N)+1$ or (equivalently) $d=(k\cdot\varphi(N)+1)/e$ can be noted $d\equiv e^{-1}\pmod{\varphi(N)}$, and that means $d$ is (an integer representative of) the inverse of $e$ in the multiplicative group of the integers modulo $\varphi(N)$.

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    $\begingroup$ Thank you! You made it clear completely. $\endgroup$
    – milad
    Commented Jun 5, 2021 at 18:18

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