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64k views

Why can't we reverse hashes?

First off, I know hashes are 1 way. There are an infinite number of inputs that can result in the same hash output. Why can't we take a hash and convert it to an equivalent string that can be hashed ...
15k views

In end-to-end encryption, doesn't the server need to be trusted?

Applications like WhatsApp use end to end encryption. WhatsApp says that only the users share a specific key and no third party can view the messages. But I do not understand how the two users agree ...
26k views

How is CipherCloud doing homomorphic encryption?

Much of the literature and latest papers suggest that homomorphic encryption is still not practical yet. How is CipherCloud able to achieve this? Does anyone have an idea? Their website does not ...
108k views

Should I use ECB or CBC encryption mode for my block cipher?

Can someone tell me which mode out of ECB and CBC is better, and how to decide which mode to use? Are there any other modes which are better?
132k views

Are there two known strings which have the same MD5 hash value?

Is there an example of two known strings which have the same MD5 hash value (representing a so-called "MD5 collision")?
26k views

Recommended skills for a job in cryptology [closed]

First let me apologize if this is an ill posed question. Let me also note that I do not in any way seek a comprehensive answer, simply your thoughts on what makes for a valuable asset to a company ...
9k views

Is modern encryption needlessly complicated?

RSA, DES, AES, etc., all use (relatively) complicated mathematics to encrypt some message with some key. For each of these methods, there have been several documented vulnerabilities found over the ...
36k views

Is AES-256 weaker than 192 and 128 bit versions?

From a paper via Schneier on Security's Another AES Attack (emphasis mine): In the case of AES-128, there is no known attack which is faster than the 2128 complexity of exhaustive search. However, ...
13k views

How does recovering the public key from an ECDSA signature work?

It is possible to recover the public key from an ECDSA signature values $(r,s)$? Please explain how this works.
23k views

Practical disadvantages of GCM mode encryption

It seems that GCM mode encryption has a clear advantage over CBC + HMAC in the sense that it only requires a single key. But it seems that there are some experts here that do not trust it enough to ...
6k views

How is the Swiss post e-voting system supposed to work, and how was it wrong?

I read that the Swiss post had an e-voting solution developed, made it possible to obtain the source code for review, and that vulnerabilities were found. Apparently we are not talking about the ...
45k views

SHA512 faster than SHA256?

I'm getting this strange result that SHA512 is around 50% faster than SHA256. I'm using .net's SHA512Managed and SHA256Managed ...
9k views

Is sharing the modulus for multiple RSA key pairs secure?

In the public-key system RSA scheme, each user holds beyond a public modulus $m$ a public exponent, $e$, and a private exponent, $d$. Suppose that Bob's private exponent is learned by other users. ...
7k views

Does “Shattered” actually show SHA-1-signed certificates are “unsafe”?

Note: I am not advocating anyone continues using SHA1-signed certificates: they are dead as far as security is concerned and should no longer be used. I'm just trying to clarify my understanding of ...
50k views

How to solve MixColumns

I can't really understand MixColumns in Advanced Encryption Standard, can anyone help me how to do this? I found some topic in the internet about MixColumns, but I still have a lot of question to ask....
3k views

Is every output of a hash function possible?

Is every output of a hash function (e.g. SHA1, MD5, etc) guaranteed to be possible, or, conversely, are there any output values that cannot possibly be created from any input? In other words, are hash ...
2k views

Why choose an authenticated encryption mode instead of a separate MAC?

What are cryptographic reasons to choose an authenticated-encryption mode of operation (such as GCM) over a traditional encryption mode plus an independent MAC, or vice versa? Assume there is no ...
2k views

Why is PuTTYgen-created RSA public exponent(e) not in {3,17,65537}?

As far as I know, RSA public exponent(e) should be one of {3,17,65537}. However, I found PuTTYgen-created RSA public exponent(e) is 0x25(37) by default,as follows, (PuTTYgen version: 0.66) I am ...
17k views

RSA with small exponents?

Just to establish notation with respect to the RSA protocol, let $n = pq$ be the product of two large primes and let $e$ and $d$ be the public and private exponents, respectively ($e$ is the inverse ...
1k views

Security of RSA for paranoids with padding?

RSA for Paranoids (RSAP) (in CryptoBytes v1n3), also known as Unbalanced RSA, is a variant of RSA proposed in 1995 by Adi Shamir, as a mean to increase the RSA public modulus size while keeping ...
11k views

Predicting values from a Linear Congruential Generator

I have learnt that Linear Congruential Random Number Generators are not cryptographically secure - my understanding is that given an LCG of the form: ...
8k views

Is TrueCrypt's multiple/cascading encryption safe?

Is TrueCrypt use of cascading encryption safe? Is it useful? TrueCrypt is arguably one of the most popular and widely used encryption applications in use today, yet it seems to use a very ...
13k views

Why is the IV passed in the clear when it can be easily encrypted?

The initialization vector (IV) is exclusive or'd against the plain text before encryption for the first block sent in order to prevent an attacker from learning that duplicate message blocks are being ...
4k views

Is a second preimage attack on MD5 feasible?

What's the practical status of MD5 w.r.t. second-preimage? Integrity of a piece of data is protected by an MD5 hash, itself assumed genuine. The data (and thus the hash) is known to the adversary. ...
4k views

Why can't the IV be predictable when its said it doesn't need to be a secret?

I heard multiple times not to reuse the same IV and IV should be random but doesn't need to be secret. I also heard if the IV is something like sequential numbers or something predictable I should ...
7k views

How were the number of rounds for different key sizes of AES selected?

The number of AES rounds increases with the key length. Why increase the number of rounds at all, and how were these round counts chosen?
660 views

Collision or second preimage for the ChaCha core?

Daniel J. Bernstein's ChaCha core is an evolution of the Salsa20 core. Both are functions over the set of 512-bit bitstrings, partitioned as sixteen 32-bit words. Can we exhibit collisions, or second-...
6k views

Turning a cipher into a hashing function

This is theoretical question. I'd like to know if it's possible (and what are eventually the consequences), not that I'm going to do it in one of my projects. ;) The first hashing functions created ...
15k views

Can CBC ciphertext be decrypted if the key is known, but the IV not?

Let's say that there is a binary file encrypted with AES in CBC mode (i.e. using a key and initialization vector). If key is known, but IV is not, is it easy to fully decrypt the file? How hard is it?...
3k views

7k views

What is the maximum size of the plaintext message for RSA OAEP?

OAEP is an important technique used to strengthen RSA. However, using OAEP (or any technique that adds randomness) reduces the size of plaintexts that can be encrypted. Assume for instance that OAEP ...
3k views

Software implementation of a commutative cipher?

I've got an application (detailed below) that calls for the use of a cipher that is commutative. I've been doing some googling & reading, and there are two algorithms that seem to get mentioned ...
1k views

Which risks are associated with deriving multiple keys from the same DH secret Z?

NIST recommends Krawczyk's HMAC-based key derivation function (HKDF) in SP-800-56C (PDF). HKDF shall e.g. be used to create keys from shared secrets after Diffie Hellman key establishment. NIST ...
3k views

PBKDF vs HKDF for pretty long key

I'm developing a messenger application with encrypted chats. In the first version of the app I've used PBKDF2 (10000 iterations, SHA1, random salt) to extend a short user password and generate keys ...
720 views

6k views

Is there a standard for OpenSSL-interoperable AES encryption?

Many AES-encrypted things (files, strings, database entries, etc.) start with "Salted__" ("U2FsdGVkX1" in base64). I hear it's ...
3k views

Is quantum key distribution safe against MITM attacks too?

i read this recently: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn12786-quantum-cryptography-to-protect-swiss-election.html and some parts of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_key_distribution ...
3k views

RSA enc/decryption with multiple prime modulus using CRT

Every information I found on internet about RSA-CRT encryption/decryption uses only two primes. I'm interested in my project in doing that using multiple (up to 8) primes. The general idea is to ...
3k views

Is there a length-preserving encryption scheme?

Is there a length-preserving encryption scheme, that preserves the lengths of input sizes such that the length of the input plain text is same as length of the output cipher text ?
657 views

Formal description of KDF1 and KDF2

I've seen many descriptions of KDF1 and KDF2 by now, but most documents simply point to specifications that are behind a pay wall. These standards are not specific to the KDF's; they just use these ...
4k views

RSA with composite numbers

It has been said that RSA uses a modulus product of two prime numbers for security reasons. But does RSA even work correctly if we allow composite integers instead? I think that the answer is "NO". ...