Question 1

Data compression is often used in data storage and transmission. Suppose you want to use data
compression in conjunction with encryption. Does it make more sense to:

Your Answer Score Explanation

1.00 Ciphertexts tend to look like random strings and therefore the only opportunity
Compress then
encryption.
encrypt.

Total 1.00 /
1.00

Question 2
Let G:{0,1}s→{0,1}n be a secure PRG. Which of the following is a secure PRG (there is more than

one correct answer):

Your Answer Score Explanation

0.17 A distinguisher will output not random

G′(k)=G(k)∥∥0 (here ∥∥ denotes concatenation)
0.

0.17 A distinguisher will output not random

G′(k)=G(k)∥∥G(k) (here ∥∥ denotes concatenation)
to the last n bits.

0.17 a distinguisher for G′ gives a distingui

G′(k)=G(k⊕1s)

0.17 A distinguisher will output not random

G′(k)=G(0)
to G(0).

0.17 a distinguisher for G′ gives a distingui

G′(k1,k2)=G(k1)∥∥G(k2) (here ∥∥ denotes
concatenation)

0.17 a distinguisher for G′ gives a distingui

G′(k)=G(k)[0,…,n−2] (i.e., G′(k) drops the last bit
of G(k))

Total 1.00 /
1.00

Question 3
Let G:K→{0,1}n be a secure PRG. Define G′(k1,k2)=G(k1)⋀G(k2) where ⋀ is the bit-wise AND
function. Consider the following statistical test A on {0,1}n:
A(x) outputs LSB(x), the least significant bit of x.
What is AdvPRG[A,G′] ? You may assume that LSB(G(k)) is 0 for exactly half the seeds k in K.
Note: Please enter the advantage as a decimal between 0 and 1 with a leading 0. If the advantage is
3/4, you should enter it as 0.75
Answer for Question 3

Your Score Explanation

Answer

0.25 1.00 for a random string x we have Pr[A(x)=1]=1/2 but for a pseudorandom string G′(k1,k2)
have Prk1,k2[A(G′(k1,k2))=1]=1/4.

Total 1.00 /
1.00

Question 4
Let (E,D) be a (one-time) semantically secure cipher with key space K={0,1}ℓ. A bank wishes to split
a decryption key k∈{0,1}ℓinto two pieces p1 and p2 so that both are needed for decryption. The
piece p1 can be given to one executive and p2 to another so that both must contribute their pieces for
decryption to proceed.
The bank generates random k1 in {0,1}ℓ and sets k1′←k⊕k1. Note that k1⊕k1′=k. The bank can
give k1 to one executive and k1′ to another. Both must be present for decryption to proceed since, by
itself, each piece contains no information about the secret key k(note that each piece is a one-time pad
encryption of k).
Now, suppose the bank wants to split k into three pieces p1,p2,p3 so that any two of the pieces enable
decryption using k. This ensures that even if one executive is out sick, decryption can still succeed. To do
so the bank generates two random pairs (k1,k1′) and (k2,k2′)as in the previous paragraph so
that k1⊕k1′=k2⊕k2′=k. How should the bank assign pieces so that any two pieces enable decryption
using k, but no single piece can decrypt?

Your Answer Score Explanation

1.00 executives 1 and 2 can decrypt using k1,k1′, executives 1 and 3 can de
p1=(k1,k2),p2=(k1′,k2),p3=(k2′) and 3 can decrypt using k2,k2′. Moreover, a single executive has no in

Total 1.00 /
1.00

Question 5
Let M=C=K={0,1,2,…,255} and consider the following cipher defined over (K,M,C):
E(k,m)=m+k(mod256);D(k,c)=c−k(mod256) .
Does this cipher have perfect secrecy?
Your Answer Score Explanation

1.00 as with the one-time pad, there is exactly one key mapping a given message m to a g
Yes.

Total 1.00 / 1.00

Question 6
Let (E,D) be a (one-time) semantically secure cipher where the message and ciphertext space
is {0,1}n. Which of the following encryption schemes are (one-time) semantically secure?

Your Answer Score Explanation

0.17 an attack on E′ gives an attack on E.

E′( (k,k′), m)=E(k,m)∥∥E(k′,m)

0.17 To break semantic security, an attacker would read the secr

E′(k,m)=E(k,m)∥∥k and use it to decrypt the challenge ciphertext. Basically, an

0.17 To break semantic security, an attacker would ask for the e

E′(k,m)=E(k,m)∥∥LSB(m) and can distinguish EXP(0) from EXP(1).

0.00 an attack on E′ gives an attack on E.

E′(k,m)=0∥∥E(k,m) (i.e. prepend 0 to
the ciphertext)

0.17 To break semantic security, an attacker would ask for the e

E′(k,m)=E(0n,m)
can easily distinguish EXP(0) from EXP(1) because it know

0.17 an attack on E′ gives an attack on E.

E′(k,m)=reverse(E(k,m))

Total 0.83 /
1.00

Question 7
Suppose you are told that the one time pad encryption of the message "attack at dawn"
is 09e1c5f70a65ac519458e7e53f36 (the plaintext letters are encoded as 8-bit ASCII and the given
ciphertext is written in hex). What would be the one time pad encryption of the message "attack at
dusk" under the same OTP key?
Answer for Question 7

Your Answer Score

09e1c5f70a65ac519458e7f13b33 1.00

Total 1.00 / 1.00

Question 8
The movie industry wants to protect digital content distributed on DVD’s. We develop a variant of a
method used to protect Blu-ray disks called AACS.
Suppose there are at most a total of n DVD players in the world (e.g. n=232). We view these n players as
the leaves of a binary tree of height log2n. Each node in this binary tree contains an AES key ki. These
keys are kept secret from consumers and are fixed for all time. At manufacturing time each DVD player is
assigned a serial number i∈[0,n−1]. Consider the set of nodes Si along the path from the root to leaf
number i in the binary tree. The manufacturer of the DVD player embeds in player number i the keys
associated with the nodes in the set Si. A DVD movie m is encrypted as
E(kroot,k)∥∥E(k,m)
where k is a random AES key called a content-key and kroot is the key associated with the root of the tree.
Since all DVD players have the key kroot all players can decrypt the movie m. We refer to E(kroot,k) as
the header and E(k,m) as the body. In what follows the DVD header may contain multiple ciphertexts
where each ciphertext is the encryption of the content-key k under some key ki in the binary tree.
Suppose the keys embedded in DVD player number r are exposed by hackers and published on the
Internet. In this problem we show that when the movie industry distributes a new DVD movie, they can
encrypt the contents of the DVD using a slightly larger header (containing about log2n keys) so that all
DVD players, except for player number r, can decrypt the movie. In effect, the movie industry disables
player number r without affecting other players.
As shown below, consider a tree with n=16 leaves. Suppose the leaf node labeled 25 corresponds to an
exposed DVD player key. Check the set of keys below under which to encrypt the key k so that every
player other than player 25 can decrypt the DVD. Only four keys are needed.
Your Score Explanation
Answer

0.03 You cannot encrypt k under any key on the path from the root to node 25. Therefore 26 can
26
key k26.

0.03 You cannot encrypt k under key 5, but 11's children must be able to decrypt k.
11

0.03 There is a better solution that does not require encrypting on the key of this node.
19

0.03 There is a better solution that does not require encrypting on the key of this node.
12
 0.03 You cannot encrypt k under the root, but 1's children must be able to decrypt k.
1

0.03 No, this will let node 25 decrypt the DVD.

25

0.03 You cannot encrypt k under 2, but 6's children must be able to decrypt k.
6

0.03 There is a better solution that does not require encrypting on the key of this node.
27

Total 0.25 /
0.25
Question explanation

Question 9
Continuing with the previous question, if there are n DVD players, what is the number of keys under
which the content key k must be encrypted if exactly one DVD player's key needs to be revoked?

Your Score Explanation

Answer

1.00 That's right. The key will need to be encrypted under one key for each node on the path from t
log2n
are log2n nodes on the path.

Total 1.00 /
1.00

Question 10
Continuing with question 8, suppose the leaf nodes labeled 16, 18, and 25 correspond to exposed
DVD player keys. Check the smallest set of keys under which to encrypt the key k so that every player
other than players 16,18,25 can decrypt the DVD. Only six keys are needed.

Your Answer Score Explanation

0.02 Yes, this will let player 17 decrypt.

17

0.02 Yes, this will let players 27-30 decrypt.

6

0.02 Yes, this will let player 26 decrypt.

26

0.02
13

0.02
5
 0.02
8

0.02 Yes, this will let player 15 decrypt.

15

0.02 Yes, this will let players 23,24 decrypt.

11

0.02 Yes, this will let players 19-22 decrypt.

4

0.02
28

Total 0.20 / 0.20