# All Questions

18,433 questions
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### Why should one model an entropy source in order to build a TRNG?

Some assert that a theoretical model of the unconditioned source must be created when building any TRNG. It's believed to be a fundamental requirement. So a few related questions arise:- What is a "...
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### Signal/TextSecure multiparty Chat. Does the protocol transmits a symmetric key?

As I look over the TexSecures specifications for multi-party chat I have noticed this. Also as far as I understood in TextSecure (now known as Signal) the minimal steps required to do a secure ...
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### How does future secrecy fail for Signal group messaging?

In the paper More is Less: On the End-to-End Security of Group Chats in Signal, WhatsApp, and Threema, the abstract claims that We additionally show that strong security properties, such as ...
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### Signal protocol: when, and why, is X3DH run again between the same two users?

This question concerns the Signal protocol's X3DH key agreement protocol as documented here. Obviously, if Alice and Bob have never contacted each other before, they need to run X3DH at least once to ...
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### Is it possible to implement the Signal Protocol without a server?

My question is regarding the Signal Protocol[1]. Is it possible to implement the protocol securely, without a server? (I have no particular motivation for the question other than to understand better ...
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### Signal Protocol: What extra features does double ratchet algorithm add to Diffie-Hellman ratchet?

I have been reading the documentation of Signal protocol and could not find out why they came up with double ratchet instead of using Diffie-Hellman ratchet which was available at first place in OTR?
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### Signal Double Ratchet - How can Alice send 2+ messages in the beginning of the Signal Protocol?

I'm studying about Signal Protocol and I had a doubt in Double Ratchet Algorithm. This section describes how to derive the receiving and sending key messages. Alice is initialized by Bob public ...
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### What is the difference between OTR and Signal protocols?

The Signal Protocol is a relatively new secure messaging protocol that was recently implemented in Signal, WhatsApp, and several other messenging apps. According to Wikipedia, the Signal protocol is ...
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### Why does the Signal protocol use AES/CBC instead of AES/GCM?

AES/GCM has obviously proved itself to be better than AES/CBC. Unless the key is re-used with the same initialization vector (see disadvantages of GCM). More information of its advantages against CBC ...
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### human readable unpredictable & no collision uid based on time

I need to create an unpredictable uid based on time. I plan to allow it to work during a time frame of 100,000,000 seconds. So the seconds will go from 00000000 to 99999999. I need an algorithm that ...
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### Mathematical explaination of file encryption for multiple persons with multiple keys

Let's say I want to encrypt a document which only can be read by John, Mike, and Dave. This can easily done with PGP/GPG: Import John‘s, Mike‘s, and Dave's public key Encrypt the document using those ...
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### Meet-in-the-middle probability of success

In page 358 of Bruce Schneier's Apllied Crypto, when explaining the meet-in-the-middle attack, he states that the success probability is «1 in $2^{2m - 2n}$» with two plaintext/ciphertext pairs, and «...
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### What do NM-CPA, and NM-CCA mean?

When I've been researching authenticated encryption, the following terms keep showing up: NM-CPA NM-CCA ....without any definition as to what they mean. I've tried searching the web for their ...
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### Can we use Shamir secret sharing conversely?

In Shamir secret sharing scheme, we have a secret and then the shares are generated based on the secret. The question is can we generate the shares before knowing the 'secret' (which is uniformly ...
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### Is there an outdated or insecure hash algorithm thats output can be easily reversed back into the input?

I'm looking for a hash algorithm thats output can be reversed back into the input in a reasonable amount of time (a day or less) using a decent consumer computer. If anyone has any information on this,...
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### Algorithm for computing modular inverse in MPC

Is there any known algorithm for calculating $a^{-1} \pmod{q}$, where $q < p$ and $F_{p}$ is the prime field of the MPC, in a linear secret sharing scheme ? I have tried using the standard ...
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### How can a fully encrypted homomorphic program resist copying?

Let's say that we have an original homomorphically encrypted program with any possible code inside. What methods can it use to ensure that it is impossible to create an exact copy of it? Are there ...
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### Zero-knowledge transfer of value protocol II [closed]

This is an improvement of the protocol described here. The protocol does not require trusted setup and is very efficient (much more efficient than anything else I could find). The protocol allows the ...
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### Using one time pad to unlock data with or without me being present

I am trying to create a system where a box can unlocked with or without me, but if I want to unlock the box I need the user. Here is how I am achieving, I have been trying to think of ways that this ...
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### I2P Tunnel Creation Build on Request Record Question en(de)cryption method

Not sure if anyone here can help, but if so, sure would appreciate the help. If we read the https://geti2p.net/spec/tunnel-creation documentation page on how I2P creates a tunnel, we can read on the ...
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### Attacking AES using Round 1 output

I was reading the paper Differential Scan Attack on AES with X-tolerant and X-masked Test Response Compactor and I have a question in the section Differential Scan Attack on AES. What I understand is ...
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Let's suppose our device performs ECDH with a fixed, unknown, private key $\text{prv}$. It accepts as input any point $Q$ lying in the proper subgroup of the proper elliptic curve, then computes: $P =... 1answer 68 views ### Transparent Setup of SNARKs The STARKs paper states Third, and most important, ZK-PCPs are transparent (or “public randomness” ), which means that the randomness used by the verifier is public; in particular, setting up a ... 1answer 92 views ### Curve25519 over Ed25519 for key exchange? Why? I've been reading up on the Signal Protocol (in this PDF) and it seems to be using Curve25519 for ECDH and EdDSA (with Ed25519) for signatures. My question is why not use only Ed25519? This ... 2answers 330 views ### Could there be a floating point CSPRNG? I recently answered no to Is there a floating point CSPRNG? Unpredictable rounding errors, especially across dissimilar hardware were my reasoning. In it's most basic form, a CSPRNG can be ... 4answers 58k views ### How to find modulus from a RSA public key? I am studying the RSA cryptosystem. The public key consists of$(n, e)$, the modulus (product of two large primes), and the encryption exponent. I want to separate the modulus$n$and exponent$e$. A ... 0answers 17 views ### How to use Windows User Certificate (S/MIME) to sign data I am working on an internal ERP for my company. The portal is written in PHP and the current purchasing process is the following: Create a new order on the ERP portal Print the order (PDF) Ask for ... 1answer 77 views ### What is this called: encrypt$X$with key$E$, decrypt$X$with key$D\$?

I am a software developer interested in developing an application with cryptography. I can explain what I want to accomplish, but I do not know the technical terms for the cryptographic functions I am ...
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### Does encrypting a result of AES block cipher provide more security?

I would like to know if encrypting a result of AES256 block cipher provides more security. Concretely, I am developing a system in which a client sends to a server a ciphertext encrypted with AES256. ...
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### How does one implement the Inverse of AES' MixColumns

I got an answer in the related question about Mixcolumn for encryption, but how about decryption? what will I do? Because it said that I will used this: During decryption the Mix Column the ...
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### How is EC key encoded in PKCS#8?

I just started working with certificates and signatures. For an application I write I need a key pair for ECDSA signatures, using the elliptic curve secp384r1 (aka NIST P-384). I produced such a key ...
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### Efficiency of oblivious algorithms vs non-oblivious algorithms?

Recently, plenty of researchers are looking at designing efficient data-oblivious algorithms. Roughly speaking, an algorithm is said to be data-oblivious if its data access patterns are independednt ...