Questions tagged [security-definition]
Questions about formal definitions of "security" for various cryptographic schemes (e.g. perfect secrecy, semantic security, ciphertext indistinguishability, etc.)
64 questions
34
votes
1
answer
12k
views
What do the signature security abbreviations like EUF-CMA mean?
From time to time, one stumbles across formal security definitions. This includes security definitions for signature schemes.
The most common ones are the *UF-* ...
15
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Does GCM (or GHASH) only provide 64-bit security against forgeries?
In a recent comment a doubt was voiced about my answer, which claims GCM to requires $2^{128}$ for a successful forgery. The doubt was that the square root needs to be taken meaning the security would ...
42
votes
4
answers
55k
views
What are preimage resistance and collision resistance, and how can the lack thereof be exploited?
What is "preimage resistance", and how can the lack thereof be exploited?
How is this different from collision resistance, and are there any known preimage attacks that would be considered feasible?
8
votes
2
answers
4k
views
What is the difference between information-theoretic and perfect types of security?
I'm having a hard time pinning down an exact definition of the difference between information-theoretic and perfect types of security. A rigorous definition seems elusive...
A. Wikipedia puts the ...
42
votes
8
answers
59k
views
Simply put, what does “perfect secrecy” mean?
I would like to ask for a clear (but maybe not so deep) explanation of what the term "perfect secrecy" means.
As far as I have researched and understood, it has to do with probabilities of assuming ...
11
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Definition of a CSPRNG
I am interested in what conditions are necessary and sufficient to define a cryptographically secure pseudo-random number generator (CSPRNG).
Wikipedia lists two defining characteristics:
It ...
31
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Uniform vs discrete Gaussian sampling in Ring learning with errors
The Wikipedia article on RLWE mentions two methods of sampling "small" polynomials namely uniform sampling and discrete Gaussian sampling. Uniform sampling is clearly the simplest, involving simply ...
23
votes
2
answers
7k
views
Why is AES considered to be secure?
The security of RSA is based on the integer factorization problem, which is a very well defined and understood mathematical problem. This problem must be solved in order to fundamentally break RSA.
...
6
votes
1
answer
6k
views
What exactly is a “security parameter”?
I often encounter the term “security parameter” when I read crypto related stuff. My basic understanding is that it just denotes some bit-length however, I'm not so sure.
For example, when it says
...
3
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Comparison of security definitions for signatures
The two main security definitions for signatures are EUF-CMA and the strong version of it sEUF-CMA.
What I see that their difference is that in EUF-CMA experiment, the adversary needs to produce a ...
9
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Understanding Twist Security with respect to short Weierstrass curves
I'm trying to understand the "Invalid-curve attacks against ladders" section of SafeCurves Twist Security page and I have difficulties to apply it to short Weierstrass curves.
That section claims ...
6
votes
1
answer
973
views
"Power of one" as input to functions of a cryptosystem
What does $1^\lambda$ mean when you pass it as a parameter to the functions of a cryptosystem. The cryptosystem in question is this and a picture reference is this.
I have been told it signifies the ...
5
votes
2
answers
857
views
What is the relationship between entropy conditioning and final output bias in a TRNG?
This question concerns the conditioning and output of true random number generators. It refers to NIST Special Publication 800-90C, Recommendation for Random Bit Generator (RBG) Constructions. It ...
16
votes
6
answers
3k
views
How exactly is "true randomness" defined in the realms of cryptography?
Especially in relation to stream ciphers, I frequently read about (sometimes theoretical, sometimes practical) attacks that are able to "distinguish a ciphertext from a truly random stream".
What's ...
3
votes
3
answers
4k
views
When is a cipher considered broken?
We've all read how some people claim AES is broken because there was supposedly a way to get the plain text from a cipher text faster than brute-force. But is this the definition?
Is a cipher broken ...