Chapter 4

Cryptography and Network Security

Public Key Cryptography

 Private-Key Cryptography
• traditional private/secret/single key
cryptography uses one key
• shared by both sender and receiver
• if this key is disclosed communications are
compromised
• also is symmetric, parties are equal
• hence does not protect sender from receiver
forging a message & claiming is sent by sender
 Public-Key Cryptography
• uses two keys – a public and a private key
• asymmetric since parties are not equal
• uses clever application of number theoretic
concepts to function
• complements rather than replaces private key
crypto
 Why Public-Key Cryptography?
• developed to address two key issues:
– key distribution – how to have secure
communications in general without having to trust
a KDC with your key
– digital signatures – how to verify a message
comes intact from the claimed sender
• public invention due to Whitfield Diffie and
Martin Hellman at Stanford Uni in 1976
– known earlier in classified community
 Public-Key Cryptography
• public-key/two-key/asymmetric cryptography
involves the use of two keys:
– a public-key, which may be known by anybody, and can be
used to encrypt messages, and verify signatures
– a private-key, known only to the recipient, used to decrypt
messages, and sign (create) signatures
• is asymmetric because
– those who encrypt messages or verify signatures cannot
decrypt messages or create signatures
Public-Key Cryptography
 Public-Key Characteristics
• Public-Key algorithms rely on two keys where:
– it is computationally infeasible to find decryption key
knowing only algorithm & encryption key
– it is computationally easy to en/decrypt messages when
the relevant (en/decrypt) key is known
– either of the two related keys can be used for encryption,
with the other used for decryption (for some algorithms)
 Public-Key Applications
• can classify uses into 3 categories:
– encryption/decryption (provide secrecy)
– digital signatures (provide authentication)
– key exchange (of session keys)
• some algorithms are suitable for all uses,
others are specific to one
 Security of Public Key Schemes
• like private key schemes brute force exhaustive
search attack is always theoretically possible
• but keys used are too large (>512bits)
• security relies on a large enough difference in
difficulty between easy (en/decrypt) and hard
(cryptanalyse) problems
• more generally the hard problem is known, but is
made hard enough to be impractical to break
• requires the use of very large numbers
• hence is slow compared to private key schemes
 RSA
• by Rivest, Shamir & Adleman of MIT in 1977
• best known & widely used public-key scheme
• based on exponentiation in a finite (Galois) field over
integers modulo a prime
– nb. exponentiation takes O((log n)3) operations (easy)
• uses large integers (eg. 1024 bits)
• security due to cost of factoring large numbers
– nb. factorization takes O(e log n log log n) operations (hard)
 RSA Key Setup
• each user generates a public/private key pair by:
• selecting two large primes at random p, q
• computing their system modulus n=p.q
– note ø(n)=(p-1)(q-1)
• selecting at random the encryption key e
• where 1<e<ø(n), gcd(e,ø(n))=1
• solve following equation to find decryption key d
– e.d=1 mod ø(n) and 0≤d≤n
• publish their public encryption key: PU={e,n}
• keep secret private decryption key: PR={d,n}
 RSA Use
• to encrypt a message M the sender:
– obtains public key of recipient PU={e,n}
– computes: C = Me mod n, where 0≤M<n
• to decrypt the ciphertext C the owner:
– uses their private key PR={d,n}
– computes: M = Cd mod n
• note that the message M must be smaller
than the modulus n (block if needed)
 RSA Example - Key Setup
1. Select primes: p=17 & q=11
2. Compute n = pq =17 x 11=187
3. Compute ø(n)=(p–1)(q-1)=16 x 10=160
4. Select e: gcd(e,160)=1; choose e=7
5. Determine d: de=1 mod 160 and d < 160
Value is d=23 since 23x7=161= 10x160+1
6. Publish public key PU={7,187}
7. Keep secret private key PR={23,187}
 RSA Example - En/Decryption
• sample RSA encryption/decryption is:
• given message M = 88 (nb. 88<187)
• encryption:
C = 887 mod 187 = 11
• decryption:
M = 1123 mod 187 = 88
 Efficient Encryption
• encryption uses exponentiation to power e
• hence if e small, this will be faster
– often choose e=65537 (216-1)
– also see choices of e=3 or e=17
• if e fixed must ensure gcd(e,ø(n))=1
– ie reject any p or q not relatively prime to e
 RSA Key Generation
• users of RSA must:
– determine two primes at random p, q
– select either e or d and compute the other
• primes p,q must not be easily derived from
modulus n=p.q
– means must be sufficiently large
– typically guess and use probabilistic test
• exponents e, d are inverses, so use Inverse
algorithm to compute the other
 RSA Security
• possible approaches to attacking RSA are:
– brute force key search (infeasible given size of
numbers)
– mathematical attacks (based on difficulty of
computing ø(n), by factoring modulus n)
– timing attacks (on running of decryption)
– chosen ciphertext attacks (given properties of
RSA)
 Factoring Problem
• mathematical approach takes 3 forms:
– factor n=p.q, hence compute ø(n) and then d
– determine ø(n) directly and compute d
– find d directly
• currently believe all equivalent to factoring
– have seen slow improvements over the years
– biggest improvement comes from improved algorithm
– currently assume 1024-2048 bit RSA is secure
 Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange
• first public-key type scheme proposed
• by Diffie & Hellman in 1976 along with the
exposition of public key concepts
• is a practical method for public exchange of a
secret key
• used in a number of commercial products
 Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange
• a public-key distribution scheme
– cannot be used to exchange an arbitrary message
– rather it can establish a common key
– known only to the two participants
• value of key depends on the participants (and their
private and public key information)
• security relies on the difficulty of computing discrete
logarithms (similar to factoring) – hard
 Diffie-Hellman Setup
• all users agree on global parameters:
– large prime integer or polynomial q
– a, a ≠1, and a ≠ q-1.
• each user (eg. A) generates their key
– chooses a secret key (number): xA < q
xA
– compute their public key: yA = a mod q
• each user makes public that key yA
 Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange
• shared session key for users A & B is KAB:
xA.xB
KAB = a mod q
xB
= yA mod q (which B can compute)
xA
= yB mod q (which A can compute)
• KAB is used as session key in private-key encryption
scheme between Alice and Bob
• if Alice and Bob subsequently communicate, they will
have the same key as before, unless they choose
new public-keys
• attacker must solve discrete log
 Diffie-Hellman Example
• users Alice & Bob who wish to swap keys:
• agree on prime q=353 and a=3
• select random secret keys:
– A chooses xA=97, B chooses xB=233
• compute respective public keys:
97
– yA=3 mod 353 = 40 (Alice)
233
– yB=3 mod 353 = 248 (Bob)
• compute shared session key as:
xA 97
– KAB= yB mod 353 = 248 = 160 (Alice)
x 233
– KAB= yA B mod 353 = 40 = 160 (Bob)
 Key Exchange Protocols
• users could create random private/public D-H
keys each time they communicate
• users could create a known private/public D-H
key and publish in a directory, then consulted
and used to securely communicate with them
• both of these are vulnerable to a meet-in-the-
Middle Attack
• authentication of the keys is needed