15 questions linked to/from Is SHA-256 secure as a CTR block cipher?
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### Can we use a sort of “hash” function in CTR mode instead of a block cipher? [duplicate]

CTR mode does not use the decryption function at all, only the encryption function. This may suggest that a different primitive that has this "one-way" property could do the trick. For instance, I ...
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### Hash Based Encryption (fast & simple), how well would this compare to AES? [duplicate]

First of all, I know it's a very bad idea to invent your own encryption algorithm. It's better to use existing known, trusted, extensively tested and studied algorithms with a proven track record. The ...
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### Hash Based Encryption (fast & simple), how well would this compare to AES? [duplicate]

First of all, I know it's a very bad idea to invent your own encryption algorithm. It's better to use existing known, trusted, extensively tested and studied algorithms with a proven track record. The ...
7k views

### Other than password hashes, are there other uses for non-reversible crypto

Hashing is useful for checking that an input matches expectations without giving away the stored expected version - so confirming passwords etc. But are there other use cases? In general, ...
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### What's wrong with XOR encryption with hash and an iterated salt

Suppose you'd use the following algorithm to encrypt a message Let $k$ be the key to encrypt with Let $m$ be the message to encrypt Split $m$ into groups of 512 bytes Given a hash function with a ...
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### Disadvantages of AES-CTR?

On paper, it sounds *very* good to me: secure fast (in my tests it's somewhat slower than ECB (but without most of the weaknesses, more on that below) but faster than every other alternative I tested,...
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### Does secure hashing imply secure symmetric encryption?

I was wondering if the mere existence of a (by some definition) secure cryptographic hash function immediately implies an equally secure symmetric encryption scheme. By my understanding, one could to ...
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### Can I use HMAC-SHA1 in counter mode to make a stream cipher?

Say I have an embedded device which is only capable of doing HMAC-SHA1 transformations (that device is, in fact, a YubiKey). Would it be secure to feed it like a block cipher in counter mode to get a ...
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### Can hashing become encrypting?

hashing some data and encrypting data share some similar attributes. Surely this is why "Difference between encrypting something and hashing something" has been asked. The point of this ...
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### Hash functions vs Stream Ciphers in terms of Speed

We know that it's possible to create a hash using a stream cipher (for instance, RC4 or AES in Counter Mode). As stated here: "A Pseudo Random Generator (PRG) and a hash function are both Pseudo ...
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### Using a hash function as a random number generator

Using MD5 or SHA1 for instance, and applying integers (as seed so to speak) to the hash function, in sequence, and only keeping, say, the first 64 bits of the resulting hash, do we always have a ...
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### salsa20 is invertible, useless in CTR mode?

I'm reading the salsa20 spec (sorry for the newbie question, i'm really a newbie here). Every paragraph ends with : "this operation is invertible", I suppose the whole salsa20 algorithm is. If I use ...
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### Can I create a random access CSPRNG from a hash?

Can I use a keyed hash of a counter as a secure CSPRNG? E.g. 4th random block is Hash(4, seed) If not, what are the possible attacks?