Scribd
Upload
226 views3 pages

ElGamal Signature Scheme

The ElGamal signature scheme is a digital signature algorithm invented by Taher ElGamal in 1984. It uses discrete logarithms to generate a signature for a message that can be verified by a third party. The signer's private key is used to generate signatures and the corresponding public key allows verification. While originally proposed, a variant called the Digital Signature Algorithm is more commonly used in practice due to tighter security reductions.

Uploaded by

Jibin Prasad
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
226 views3 pages

ElGamal Signature Scheme

The ElGamal signature scheme is a digital signature algorithm invented by Taher ElGamal in 1984. It uses discrete logarithms to generate a signature for a message that can be verified by a third party. The signer's private key is used to generate signatures and the corresponding public key allows verification. While originally proposed, a variant called the Digital Signature Algorithm is more commonly used in practice due to tighter security reductions.

Uploaded by

Jibin Prasad
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

ElGamal signature scheme

1
ElGamal signature scheme
The ElGamal signature scheme is a digital signature scheme which is based on the difficulty of computing discrete
logarithms. It was described by Taher ElGamal in 1984.
[1]
The ElGamal signature algorithm described in this article is rarely used in practice. A variant developed at NSA and
known as the Digital Signature Algorithm is much more widely used. There are several other variants.
[2]
The
ElGamal signature scheme must not be confused with ElGamal encryption which was also invented by Taher
ElGamal.
The ElGamal signature scheme allows that a verifier can confirm the authenticity of a message m sent by the signer
sent to him over an insecure channel.
System parameters
Let H be a collision-resistant hash function.
Let p be a large prime such that computing discrete logarithms modulo p is difficult.
Let g < p be a randomly chosen generator of the multiplicative group of integers modulo p .
These system parameters may be shared between users.
Key generation
Choose randomly a secret key x with 1<x<p!1.
Compute y = g
x
modp.
The public key is (p,g,y).
The secret key is x.
These steps are performed once by the signer.
Signature generation
To sign a message m the signer performs the following steps.
Choose a random k such that 0<k<p!1 and gcd(k,p!1)=1.
Compute .
Compute .
If start over again.
Then the pair (r,s) is the digital signature of m. The signer repeats these steps for every signature.
Verification
A signature (r,s) of a message m is verified as follows.
and .

The verifier accepts a signature if all conditions are satisfied and rejects it otherwise.
Correctness
The algorithm is correct in the sense that a signature generated with the signing algorithm will always be accepted by
the verifier.
The signature generation implies
ElGamal signature scheme
2
Hence Fermat's little theorem implies
Security
A third party can forge signatures either by finding the signer's secret key x or by finding collisions in the hash
function . Both problems are believed to be difficult. However, as of 2011 no
tight reduction to a computational hardness assumption is known.
The signer must be careful to choose a different k uniformly at random for each signature and to be certain that k, or
even partial information about k, is not leaked. Otherwise, an attacker may be able to deduce the secret key x with
reduced difficulty, perhaps enough to allow a practical attack. In particular, if two messages are sent using the same
value of k and the same key, then an attacker can compute x directly.
[1]
References
[1] T. ElGamal (1985). "A public key cryptosystem and a signature scheme based on discrete logarithms" (http:/ / hereford.homeip. net/
ElGamal/ ElGamal - A Public Key Cryptosystem and a Signature Scheme Based on Discrete Logarithms ElGamal. pdf). IEEE Trans inf Theo
31 (4): 469"472. .
[2] K. Nyberg, R. A. Rueppel (1996). "Message recovery for signature schemes based on the discrete logarithm problem" (http:/ / dsns.csie.
nctu. edu. tw/ research/ crypto/ HTML/ PDF/ E94/ 182. PDF). Designs, Codes and Cryptography 7 (1-2): 61"81. doi:10.1007/BF00125076. .
Article Sources and Contributors
3
Article Sources and Contributors
ElGamal signature scheme Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=412263425 Contributors: ArnoldReinhold, Bbartlog, Ciphergoth, Davidgothberg, Fryed-peach, Gelbard, Intgr,
Jafet, John Reaves, Jopsen, JustAGal, Kevinsluckynumbersev3n, Matt Crypto, Maxal, Message From Xenu, Michael Hardy, Reetep, Senojsitruc, Ww, 27 anonymous edits
License
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
http:/ / creativecommons. org/ licenses/ by-sa/ 3. 0/

You might also like