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4.4 Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange Algorithm

The Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm allows two parties to securely derive a shared cryptographic key over a public channel without actually exchanging the key itself. It involves selecting a large prime number and a primitive root, from which both parties generate public keys using their private keys. The algorithm is based on mathematical principles and ensures that both parties can compute the same secret key independently, enhancing security during communication.

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21 views10 pages

4.4 Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange Algorithm

The Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm allows two parties to securely derive a shared cryptographic key over a public channel without actually exchanging the key itself. It involves selecting a large prime number and a primitive root, from which both parties generate public keys using their private keys. The algorithm is based on mathematical principles and ensures that both parties can compute the same secret key independently, enhancing security during communication.

Uploaded by

adityapandji1
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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4.

4 Diffie-Hellman key
exchange Algorithm

-Mohd Janisar
• Diffie Hellman (DH) key exchange algorithm is a method
for securely exchanging cryptographic keys over a public
communication channel.
• Keys are not actually exchanged – they are jointly derived.
• It is named after their inventors Whitfield Diffie and Martin
Hellman.
• It is not encryption algorithm, but used to exchange keys
between 2 users.
• For this, we can use asymmetric encryption to exchange
the secrete key.
Lets consider the standard example of Alice and Bob

• When sender and receiver are at far distance, lets say Alice in USA and
Bob in India.
• They are sending data in an encrypted form with private key just for
enhancing security.
• But over the network, there are chances to have the transfer through an
unsecured network.
• Even their private key can be hacked by the hacker who can be the
intruder in unsafe network as shown in the diagram.
• Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm can be used to
generate key which can be exchanged between sender and
receiver.
• This algorithm can only be used to exchange the key
between them but not for any encryption and decryption
process.
• It is based on mathematical principals, especially uses raised
to the power and mod function in the expressions.
Steps :
• Select a large prime number say ‘q’. ( we will assume a smaller one
just to get ease of calculation in example. Lets assume q=7
• Select a number ‘α’ (alpha) such that it is the primitive root of ‘q’ and
α<q
• Primitive root can be defined as if a is a primitive root of q if and only
if a1 mod q till aq-1 mod q returns a sequence of non repeating values.

Lets see what is meant by primitive root of a


number.
Lets see some example:
If q=7 then choose value of α can be checked with a=1, a=2, a=3 and so on till a=6
Eg
a=5, then

51 mod 7 =5
52 mod 7 =4 No value is getting repeated
53 mod 7=6 all sequential values are Lets check for 2
54 mod 7=2 produced. If q=7 then choose value of α can be checked with
55 mod 7 =3 so 5 is primitive root of 7. a=1, a=2, a=3 and so on till a=6
56 mod 7=1 Eg a=2 then

21 mod 7 =2
22 mod 7 =4 value 2 is getting repeated
23 mod 7=1 so not required tocheck till 6
24 mod 7=2 And so 2 is not primitive root of 7
• So we have q=7, α=5 wich are known to all.
• Lets have the step for generate key as follows:
• Assume private key for Alice is XA and YA for Bob
• Assume XA=3 such that XA< q, so 3<7
• Calculate public key YA as YA=αXAMOD q and similarly YB.
q=7, α=5 q=7, α=5
Let XA=3 Let XB=4
Then Then
YA=αXAMOD q YB=αXBMOD q
=53MOD 7 =54MOD 7
=125MOD7 =625MOD7
=6 =2
∴ YA= 6 ∴ YB = 2
The algorithm can be
diagrammatically described as

Private Key Global values Private Key


XA=3 q=7 XB=4
α= 5

Public keys

YA=6
YB=2

Alice Bob

Key exchange
We can calculate the secret key just to check if
the exchange is successful or not as follows :
Both the sender and receiver will use public and private key to calculate
secret key with the formula K1=(YB )XAMOD q and K2=(YA )XBMOD q

K1=(YB )XAMOD q K2=(YA )XBMOD q


=(2)3MOD7 =(6)4MOD7
=1 =1
So after calculation we found that both the secret keys K1 an K2 have
same value as 1. This proves that the key are exchanged successfully.
Thank you

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