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### Choice between AES-128 and AES-256 for password protection in MS Office

Why are we still using the default of AES-128 when password protecting a Microsoft Word document. My answer is and always has been - because its good enough and MS don't recommend changing to AES-256. ...
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### How confident can we be that nobody will crack a 128-bit key?

In a context involving a block cipher like AES-128, excluding quantum computers, cryptanalytic breakthrough on AES and implementation attacks (poor TRNG, DPA..), and wrench, how confident can we be ...
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### Suppose I capture encrypted data that I want to decrypt. Could I use a server farm to decrypt?

For argument's sake, let's say that I'm a bad actor who produces malware. I've infected around 10,000 computers and smartphones with my malware, which runs in the background and can be used to make ...
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### Vulnerability of low value generated key

I have read here that Elgamal is resistant to brute-force attack, because the group to where the key is selected is very large. But since the key generation is random, (i assume)there is a chance that ...
3k views

### ECC keys vulnerable to brute force attack?

I have started learning about Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). Since the key size required in ECC is relatively smaller than the key size in RSA (to provide the same encryption strength), I wonder ...
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### Maximum security strength in bits of ISAAC cipher?

Wikipedia claims key length can be very big in this cipher, so I assume it can offer a million bits of security provided entropy of key is the same? Of course I can SHA-256 hash the key to allow any ...
32k views

### How long would it take to brute force an AES-128 key?

How long would it take to crack a AES-128 key using the most advanced technology currently available? The hardware can be anything, be it a high-performance CPU, GPU or even FPGA?
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### Differences between industrial and military cryptography

Industrial and military cryptography should follow the same basic rules, but what does make them different is: Higher key length, protocols unknown to the civilian world, and perhaps unique methods ...
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### How to calculate a private key from public key on elliptic curve? [duplicate]

Provided, that you have to multiply a well known G by the private key to obtain the public key, why not keep adding G to itself until you reach the public key. The private key should be the number of ...
770 views

### Why can't we give block ciphers larger keys?

I have limited math's knowledge so sorry if this question sounds stupid. I saw many people complaining about AES, Twofish and Serpent that these ciphers all could be crackable in the near future and ...
19k views

### Does SHA-1024 hash exist?

Does SHA-1024 cryptographic hash function exist similarly to SHA-512? If not, what's the reason for that? Links: SHA-2 at Wikipedia SHA-3 at Wikipedia
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### Encryption using matrix transformations

I have been thinking lately about a block cipher which takes a block of bits and arranges them in a square matrix. Then defining transforms on submatrices of the square matrix to scramble the bits. ...
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### Why is AES resistant to known-plaintext attacks?

At least it's my understanding that AES isn't affected by known-plaintext. Is it immune to such an attack, or just resistant? Does this vary for chosen-plaintext?
There is (or at least was) a thermodynamic reasoning that any form of brute force key search would require an energy at least $k\,T$ per key tested, where $k$ is Boltzman's constant and $T$ the device'...