Overview

❑ Modern public-key cryptosystems:

o RSA
▪ Proposed in 1978
▪ Asymmetric cryptosystem – different keys used to
encrypt and decrypt messages
Simplifies key distribution and management
Facilitates the creation of digitally signed messages
o The Digital Signature Standard (DSS)
▪ Adopted in 1994
▪ Technique for creating and verifying digital
signatures
Only the signer can produce his signature on a document
A signed document cannot be altered without invalidating the
signature

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Symmetric-Key vs. Public-Key
Cryptography
❑ Symmetric-key:
o Users must have a previously-established shared secret
key to communicate securely
o Sender encrypts message with the shared key and the
receiver uses the same key to decrypt
❑ Public-key:
o A user generates a public-key/private-key pair:
▪ The public key is made public
▪ The private key is kept secret
o Senders encrypt a message with the recipient’s public
key
o Only the user that generated the key pair knows the
private key and can perform decryption

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Motivation for Public-Key
Cryptography
❑ Symmetric-key cryptosystem:
o Cannot communicate securely with someone you have
never communicated with before
▪ Need a unique secret key for each communication partner
o Number of keys grows exponentially with the size of the
group
▪ A group of m people requires (m 2 – m )/2 keys
❑ Public-key cryptosystems:
o Can communicate securely with someone you have never
communicated with before
▪ Need to know that user’s public key
o Number of keys grows linearly with the size of the group
▪ A group of m people requires 2m keys

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Public-Key Cryptography
❑ Each user has a pair of keys that are
inverses of each other:
o The public key
▪ Made public
▪ Can decrypt anything encrypted with the private key
o The private key
▪ Kept secret
▪ Can decrypt anything encrypted with the public key

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Public-Key Cryptography –
Requirements
❑ Every user has a unique public/private key
pair
❑ For every message, M , decrypting (using
the corresponding private key) a message
encrypted with a public key yieldsM
❑ Deriving the private key from the public
key or the plaintext from the ciphertext
is difficult
❑ The key generation, encryption, and
decryption routines must be relatively fast

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Implementing a Public-Key
Cryptosystem
❑ Usually based on trap-door one-way functions,
f(x) = y:
o f(x) is one-way if given x it is easy to compute y , but
giveny it difficult to determinex
o f(x) has a trap-door if there is a piece of information
that allowsx to be computed easily fromy
o Encryption = forward direction (anyone)
▪ Public key
o Decryption = backwards direction (only someone who
knows the trap door)
▪ Private key
❑ Few public-key cryptosystems are based on functions that
are proven to be trap-door one-way functions

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 The RSA Cryptosystem
❑ Proposed in 1978 by Rivest, Shamir, and
Adleman
❑ Trap-door one-way function is factoring
large integers (100 or 200 decimal digits)
which is thought to be difficult
o Not proven that numbers must be factored to
break RSA
o Not proven that factoring large numbers is
difficult
❑ RSA is thought to be secure and is a
widely used public-key cryptosystem

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA - Overview
❑ Based on discrete exponentiation
❑ Encryption: C = P e mod n
o C and P are blocks of ciphertext and plaintext,
respectively
o e is a positive integer called the encryption exponent
o n is a positive integer called the modulus
❑ The trap-door is p and q , the two prime factors
ofn
o n=p×q
❑ Knowledge if p and q allow one to compute d
o d is a positive integer called the decryption exponent
❑ Decryption: C d mod n = P

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Mathematical
Background
❑ A prime integer, x , has no factors by which it is
evenly divisible except 1 andx :
o 2, 3, 67, 491, and 2,347 are all prime
❑ A composite integer, x , has at least one other
factor besides 1 andx :
o 4 (2×2), 20 (2×2×5), 231 (3×7× 11), and 26,473 (23×1,151)
are all composite
❑ Two integers, x and y , are relatively prime if
their greatest common divisor is 1:
o 2 and 5 are relatively prime, 4 and 35 are relatively
prime

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Mathematical Background
(cont)
❑ Strategy #1 for determining whether or not two integers
are relatively prime:
o Create a prime factorization of each
o Verify that the greatest common divisor (GCD) is 1
o Examples:
▪ 4 (1×2×2) and 35 (1×5×7) are relatively prime (GCD = 1)
▪ 26,473 (1×23×1,151) and 249,711 (1×3×7×11×23×47) are not
relatively prime (GCD = 23)
❑ Problem: Integer factorization is thought to be a hard
problem
❑ Strategy #2 for determining whether or not two integers
are relatively prime: Euclid’s algorithm

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Math (cont)
❑ Euclid’s algorithm - finds the GCD of two integers without
factoring
❑ Example #1: 10,857 and 25,415
o Reduce the larger modulo the smaller:
25,415 mod 10,857 = 3,701
o Reduce the modulus by the result:
10,857 mod 3,701 = 3,455
o Continue until the result is 0:
3,701 mod 3,455 = 246
3,455 mod 246 = 11
246 mod 11 = 4
11 mod 4 = 3
4 mod 3 = 1 (GCD)
3 mod 1 = 0
o Second to last line is the GCD

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Mathematical Background
(cont)
❑ Euclid’s algorithm - finds the GCD of two integers
without factoring them
❑ Example #2: 2,856 and 1,320
2,856 mod 1,320 = 216
1,320 mod 216 = 24 (GCD)
216 mod 24 = 0
❑ 2,856 and 1,320 are not relatively prime – their
GCD is 24

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Key Generation
❑ Randomly choose two large (probably) prime
numbers,p andq
o To make factoring “hard”:
▪ p and q should be of roughly equal length
▪ p and q should be more than 100 decimal digits
▪ p and q should be “hard” integers
❑ Example (using small integers): p = 17 andq = 37
❑ Compute the modulus, n , the product of p and q
o Example:n = p × q = 17 × 37 = 629

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

RSA – Key Generation (cont)
❑ Randomly choose a large (probably) prime
integer,d , as the decryption exponent:
o d should be larger than p or q
o d must be relatively prime to ((p -1) × (q -1))
o Example
▪ Recall: p = 17 and q = 37
▪ So ((p -1) × (q -1)) = 16 × 36 = 576
▪ d should be relatively prime to 576
GCD(d ,576) must equal 1
o Choose a random starting value for d (say 50)
and start checking

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

RSA – Key Generation (cont)
❑ Use Euclid’s Algorithm to find
GCD(50,576):

576 mod 50 = 26
50 mod 26 = 24
26 mod 24 = 2 (GCD)
24 mod 2 = 0

❑ 50 and 576 are not relatively prime (GCD =

2)
❑ We cannot use d =50

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

RSA – Key Generation (cont)
❑ Use Euclid’s Algorithm to find
GCD(51,576):

576 mod 51 = 15
51 mod 15 = 6
15 mod 6 = 3 (GCD)
6 mod 3 = 0

❑ 51 and 576 are not relatively prime (GCD =

2)
❑ We cannot use d =51

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

RSA – Key Generation (cont)
❑ Use Euclid’s Algorithm to find
GCD(52,576):

576 mod 52 = 4 (GCD)

52 mod 4 = 0

❑ 52 and 576 are not relatively prime (GCD =

4)
❑ We cannot use d =52

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

RSA – Key Generation (cont)
❑ Use Euclid’s Algorithm to find
GCD(53,576):
576 mod 53 = 46
53 mod 46 = 7
46 mod 7 = 4
7 mod 4 = 3
4 mod 3 = 1 (GCD)
3 mod 1 = 0

❑ 53 and 576 are relatively prime (GCD = 1)

❑ Let the decryption exponent, d , be 53

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

RSA – Key Generation (cont)
❑ Generate the encryption exponent, e , such that e
is the multiplicative inverse ofd modulo ((p - 1) ×
q( - 1))
❑ A number, x , is the multiplicative inverse of
another number,y , if the product ofx andy is 1
o E.g. 2 and ½, 9 and 1/9, 77/42 and 42/77
❑ A number, x , is y ’s multiplicative inverse modulo
z if: x( ×y ) modz = 1
o Example
▪ 9 is a multiplicative inverse modulo 26 of 3 since (9 × 3) mod 26 = 1
▪ 35 is also a multiplicative inverse modulo 26 of 3 since (35 × 3)
mod 26 = 1
▪ There is no multiplicative inverse modulo 26 for 4 since there is no
integer,x , that satisfies x( × 4) mod 26 = 1

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

RSA – Key Generation (cont)
❑ Facts:
o If y and z are relatively prime then y has a
multiplicative inverse moduloz
o If y and z are not relatively prime then y has
no multiplicative inverse moduloz
❑ Recall:
o d and ((p -1) × (q -1)) were specifically chosen to
be relatively prime
❑ Therefore:
o d has a multiplicative inverse modulo ((p -1)
q -1))
×(

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Extended Euclidean
Algorithm
❑ Extended Euclidean algorithm - finds the
multiplicative inverse of one integer modulo
another
❑ Recall: Another view:

576 mod 53 = 46
53 mod 46 = 7
46 mod 7 = 4
7 mod 4 = 3
4 mod 3 = 1
3 mod 1 = 0

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Extended Euclidean Algorithm
(cont)
❑ Start with line (5):
o 4 – (1×3) = 1
❑ Substitute:
o (7– (1×4)), a value equivalent to 3 according to line (4)
❑ For:
o 3
❑ Gives:
o 4 – (1×(7–(1×4))) = 1
❑ Simplify (sum of 7s and 4s):
o ((–1 × 7) + (2 × 4)) = 1

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Extended Euclidean Algorithm
(cont)
❑ Previous result:
o ((–1 × 7) + (2 × 4)) = 1
❑ Substitute:
o (46–(6×7)), a value equivalent to 4 according to line (3)
❑ For:
o 4
❑ Gives:
o ((-1 × 7) + (2 × (46 – (6 × 7)))) = 1
❑ Simplify (sum of 46s and 7s):
o ((2 × 46) + (-13 × 7)) = 1

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Extended Euclidean Algorithm
(cont)
❑ Previous result:
o ((2 × 46) + (-13 × 7)) = 1
❑ Substitute:
o (53 – (1 × 46)), a value equivalent to 7 according to line
(2)
❑ For:
o 7
❑ Gives:
o ((2 × 46) + (-13 × (53 – (1 × 46)))) = 1
❑ Simplify (sum of 53s and 46s):
o ((-13 × 53) + (15 × 46)) = 1

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Extended Euclidean Algorithm
(cont)
❑ Previous result:
o ((-13 × 53) + (15 × 46)) = 1
❑ Substitute:
o (576 – (10 × 53)), a value equivalent to 46 according to
line (1)
❑ For:
o 46
❑ Gives:
o ((-13×53)+(15×(576–(10×53)))) = 1
❑ Simplify (sum of 576s and 53s):
o ((15 × 576) + (-163 × 53)) = 1

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Extended Euclidean Algorithm
(cont)
❑ Previous result:
o ((15 × 576) + (-163 × 53)) = 1
❑ Fact:
o An expression of the form ax + by = 1 (with a > 0) tells
us thata isx ’s multiplicative inverse moduloy
❑ Therefore, we know that:
o 15 is 576’s multiplicative inverse modulo 53
o (15 × 576) mod 53 = 1
❑ However, we are looking for 53’s multiplicative
inverse modulo 576

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Extended Euclidean Alg (cont)
❑ Given:
((15 × 576) + (-163 × 53)) = 1
❑ We know that:
(53 × 576) + (-53 × 576) = 0
❑ Add (53×576)+(-53×576) to left-hand side of the
equation:
(15 × 576) + (-163 × 53) + (53 × 576) + (-53 × 576)
=1
❑ Simplify:
((576 – 163) × 53) + ((15 – 53) × 576) = 1
❑ Simplify further:
o ((413 × 53) + (-38 × 576)) = 1

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Extended Euclidean Algorithm
(cont)
❑ Previous result:
o ((413 × 53) + (-38 × 576)) = 1
❑ Fact:
o An expression of the form ax + by = 1 (with a > 0) tells
us thata isx ’s multiplicative inverse moduloy
❑ Therefore, we know that:
o 413 is 53’s multiplicative inverse modulo 576
o (413 × 53) mod 576 = 1
❑ Let the encryption exponent, e , be 413

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA – Key Generation
Summary
❑ Choose two large primes: p and q
o p = 17 and q = 37
❑ Calculate the modulus, n :
o n = p × q = 17 × 37 = 629
❑ Choose the decryption exponent, d, relatively
p -1) × q( -1)):
prime to ((
o d = 53
❑ Compute e , d ’s multiplicative inverse mod ((p -1) ×
q( -1)):
o e = 413
❑ Public key is (e , n ), private key is d

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA - Encryption
❑ Step 1:
o Obtain the public key with which to encrypt the
message
o Let the public key be (e = 413, n = 629)
❑ Step 2:
o Represent the plaintext as an integer, m , where 0 <
m <n
o Let m = 250
❑ Step 3:
o Create the ciphertext by computing: C = m e mod n
o C = 250 413 mod 629 = 337

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA - Decryption
❑ Need:
o Ciphertext: C = 337
o Public key: e = 413, n = 629
o Private key: d = 53
❑ Decrypt by computing:
m = C d mod n
m = 337 53 mod 629
m = 250

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Attacks on RSA
❑ Assume an attacker knows:
o The ciphertext (C = 337)
o The public key (e = 413, n = 629) used to
createC
❑ The attacker might attempt to determine:
o A value for m that satisfies m 413 mod 629 = 337
▪ No known way to easily compute m given e , n , and C
▪ Brute-force search for m is infeasible (if m is large)
o A value for d
▪ No known way to easily compute d given e andn
▪ Brute-force search for d is infeasible (if d and n are
large)

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Attacks on RSA (cont)
❑ In general, it is believed that the most
efficient way to attack RSA is to factorn ,
the modulus
o Factoringn results in p and q
o With e ,n ,p , and q the extended Euclidean
algorithm can be used to computed
❑ Factoring integers is widely believed to be
an intractable problem

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 RSA - Security
❑ We believe that:
o In general, the most efficient way to attack
RSA is to factorn , the modulus
o In general, factoring large, “hard” integers is
intractable
❑ However:
o There may be an efficient way to attack RSA
without factoringn , or
o There may be an efficient algorithm for
factoringn

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Digital Signatures
❑ Similar to handwritten signatures on physical documents
❑ A digital signature indicates the signer’s agreement with
the contents of an electronic document
❑ Digital signatures should be: authentic, unforgeable, non-
reusable, and non-repudiable:
o Signer must deliberately sign a document
o Only the signer can produce his/her signature
o Cannot move a signature from one document to another
document or alter a signed document without invalidating
the signature
o Signatures can be validated by other users, and the
signer cannot reasonably claim that he/she did not sign a
document bearing his/her signature

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Digital Signatures - RSA
❑ Given an RSA public/private key pair and a
message:
o e = 413, n = 629,d = 53, m = 250
❑ Signature generation:

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Digital Signatures – RSA
(cont)
❑ Signature generation:
o Step 1: Apply redundancy function, R
▪ Redundancy function helps protect against signature
forgery (as we shall see)
▪ For now, we will use the simple (and insecure) identity
redundancy function:R x( ) =x
m = 250, R (m ) = 250
o Step 2: Encrypt R (m ) using the private key
▪ S = 250 53 mod 629 = 411
▪ The digital signature, S , is 411

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Digital Signatures – RSA
(cont)
❑ Signature verification:

Signature

Public Decryp
Key t

Formatte
d
Message

Verify Message

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Digital Signatures – RSA
(cont)
❑ RSA is a digital signature scheme with
message recovery:
o A signature can be verified without knowing
the original message that was signed
o Signature verification results in a copy of the
original message
❑ Other digital signature schemes use an
appendix:
o The original message is required in order to
verify the signature

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Digital Signatures – RSA
(cont)
❑ Signature verification:
o Step 1: Decrypt the signature with the signer’s
public key
▪ R (m )= 411 413 mod 629 = 250
o Step 2: Verify that the result has the proper
redundancy specified byR (none in this case)
and recoverm
▪ R (m ) = 250
▪ m = 250

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Digital Signatures – RSA
(cont)
❑ Problem: the redundancy function used in the last
example is a bad one because it makes it easy to
forge a signature
o Choose a random value between 0 and n -1 for S
▪ S = 323
o Use the signer’s public key to decrypt S :
▪ R (m )= 323 413 mod 629 = 85
o Invert R to recover m :
▪ m = 85
❑ Therefore:
o A valid signature (323) can be created for a random
message (85) without knowledge of the signer’s private
key

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Digital Signatures – RSA
(cont)
❑ Choosing a better redundancy function:
o Consider: R ’(x ) = {x concatenated to x }
▪ To sign the message m = 7 we first apply R’ to m :
R’ (7 ) = 77
▪ Create the digital signature by encrypting R’ (m ) with
the private key
S = 77 53 mod 629 = 25
▪ To verify this signature, we use the public key to
decrypt:
R’ (m )= 25413 mod 629 = 77
▪ Verify that R ’(m ) is of the form xx for some message
x
▪ Invert R’ and recover the original message: m = 7

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Digital Signatures – RSA
(cont)
❑ Choosing a better redundancy function:
o Try to forge a signature with R’ as the
redundancy function
▪ Choose a random value between 0 and n -1 for S
S = 323
▪ Use the signer’s public key to decrypt S :
R (m )= 323 413 mod 629 = 85
o Result:
▪ 85 is not a legal value for R’ (m )
▪ 323 is not a valid signature
▪ A good redundancy function (i.e. PKCS) makes forging
a signature very difficult

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 The Digital Signature Standard
(DSS)
❑ The Digital Signature Standard is a FIPS
adopted by NIST in 1994
o Includes a Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA)
based on the ElGamal algorithm
o Cannot be used for encryption – only for digital
signatures
o Digital signature scheme with appendix
▪ The original message is required in order to verify
the signature

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 DSS – Key Generation
❑ A public/private key pair must be
generated:
o A 160-bit prime number, q , is selected
▪ Small example: q = 72
o A prime number, p , is selected
▪ p must be either 512, 576, 640, 704, 768, 832, 896,
960, or 1,024 bits
▪ q must be a factor of (p - 1)
o Example using small numbers:
▪ q = 72, p = 58,537
▪ Note: 58,536 / 72 = 813 so q is a factor of (p -1)

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 DSS – Key Generation (cont)
❑ An integer, h , is randomly selected from
the range 1 . . .p – 1
❑ g is computed from h , p , and q :
g = h (p -1)/q mod p
❑ Example using small numbers:
q = 72, p = 58,537, h = 471
g = 471 58536/72 mod 58,537
g = 471 813 mod 58,537
g = 26,994

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 DSS – Key Generation (cont)
❑ A random integer, x , is chosen such that 0
<x <q
❑ y is computed using g , x , and p
y = g x mod p
❑ Example using small numbers:
q = 72, p = 58,537, h = 471, g = 26,994, x = 61
y = 26,99461 mod 58,537 = 4,105
❑ Public key = (p , q , g , y ), private key = x

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

DSS – Signature Generation

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 DSS – Signature Generation
(cont)
❑ Given the public key:
o p = 58,537, q = 72, g = 26,994, y = 4,105
❑ Select a positive random integer, k , that is less
thanq
o Example using small numbers: k = 29
❑ A different value for k must be chosen each time
a message is to be signed
❑ Compute one part of the signature:
r = (g k mod p ) mod q
r = (26,99429 mod 58,537) mod 72
r = 49

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 DSS – Signature Generation
(cont)
❑ Compute the multiplicative inverse of k
(29) modq (72)
o (5 × 29) mod 72 = 1
o k-1 = 5
❑ The message to be signed, m , is hashed
using the Secure Hash Algorithm
o MD = SHA(m )
o Example using small numbers: SHA(m ) = 6,034

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 DSS – Signature Generation
(cont)
❑ Using the public and private keys:
o Public:p = 58,537, q = 72, g = 26,994, y = 4,105
o Private: x = 61
❑ Compute the second part of the signature:
s = (k -1 × (MD + (x × r ))) mod q
s = (5 × (6,034 + (61 × 49))) mod 72
s = (5 × (6,034 + 2,989)) mod 72
s = (5 × 9,023) mod 72
s = 45,115 mod 72
s = 43
❑ The two values, r (49) and s (43), are the digital
signature ofm

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 DSS – Signature Verification

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 DSS – Signature Verification
(cont)
❑ DSS is a digital signature scheme with
appendix
o The original message is required in order to
verify the signature
❑ Given r , s , m, and the signer’s public key
❑ Anyone can verify that (r , s ) is a valid
signature onm :
o Verify that 0 < r < q and 0 < s < q
o Compute the message digest of m using SHA
▪ MD = 6,034

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 DSS – Signature Verification
(cont)
❑ Compute w , the multiplicative inverse of s (42)
moduloq (72):
(67 × 42) mod 72 = 1
w = 67
❑ Compute u1 = (MD × w ) mod q
u1 = (6,034 × 67) mod 72
u1 = 404,278 mod 72
u1 = 70
❑ Compute u2 = (r × w ) mod q
u2 = (49 × 67) mod 72
u2 = 3,283 mod 72
u2 = 43

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 DSS – Signature Verification
(cont)
❑ Compute the value v :
v = ((g u1 × y u2 ) mod p ) mod q
v = ((26,994 70 × 4,105 43) mod 58,537) mod 72
v = 14,809 mod 72
v = 49
❑ If v (49) equals r (49) then the signature
is verified
o The message m was signed by someone who
knowsx , the private key corresponding toy

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Symmetric vs. Asymmetric
Cryptosystems
❑ Public-key cryptosystems usually:
o Have keys that are about 10 times bigger
▪ 1,024 bits vs. 56-128 bits
o Performs encryption 100-1000 times slower
▪ Due to more complicated operations
o Simplifies key management: requires no
previously established, shared secrets
o Improves scalability: a group of m agents
needs only 2m total keys (vs.m 2)
o Allows digital signatures to be created and
verified

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography

 Summary
❑ Public-key cryptosystems use different keys
to encrypt and decrypt messages
o Simplifies key distribution and management
o Facilitates the creation of digitally signed messages
❑ RSA
o Proposed in1978
o Can be used for encryption and digital signatures
❑ DSS
o Adopted in 1994
o Can be used for digital signatures

Chapter 5 Public Key Cryptography