Module 3

Asymmetric Cryptosystem

Dr. Anver. S. R
 Chapter 9 – Public Key
Cryptography and RSA

Every Egyptian received two names, which were

known respectively as the true name and the
good name, or the great name and the little
name; and while the good or little name was
made public, the true or great name appears to
have been carefully concealed.
—The Golden Bough, Sir James George Frazer
 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
• probably most significant advance in the
3000 year history of cryptography
• uses two keys – a public & 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
 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
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 &
Martin Hellman at Stanford Uni in 1976
– known earlier in classified community
 Public-Key Characteristics
• Public-Key algorithms rely on two keys
with the characteristics that it is:
– computationally infeasible to find decryption
key knowing only algorithm & encryption key
– 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
(in some schemes)
Public-Key Cryptosystems
 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, its
just made too hard to do in practise
• 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: KU={e,N}
• keep secret private decryption key: KR={d,p,q}
 RSA

Select two prime no's. Suppose P = 53 and Q = 59.

Now First part of the Public key : n = P*Q = 3127.
We also need a small exponent say e :
But e Must be
An integer.
Not be a factor of Φ(n).
1 < e < Φ(n)
Let us now consider it to be equal to 3.
Our Public Key is made of n and e
 RSA

We need to calculate Φ(n) :

Such that Φ(n) = (P-1)(Q-1)
so, Φ(n) = 3016
Now calculate Private Key, d :
d = (k*Φ(n) + 1) / e for some integer k
For k = 2, value of d is 2011.
 RSA

Convert letters to numbers : H = 8 and I = 9

Thus Encrypted Data c = (89e)mod n
Thus our Encrypted Data comes out to be 1394

Now we will decrypt 1394 :

Decrypted Data = (cd)mod n
Thus our Encrypted Data comes out to be 89

8 = H and I = 9 i.e. "HI".

 RSA Use
• to encrypt a message M the sender:
– obtains public key of recipient KU={e,N}
– computes: C=Me mod N, where 0≤M<N
• to decrypt the ciphertext C the owner:
– uses their private key KR={d,p,q}
– computes: M=Cd mod N
• note that the message M must be smaller
than the modulus N (block if needed)
 Why RSA Works
• because of Euler's Theorem:
• aø(n)mod N = 1
– where gcd(a,N)=1
• in RSA have:
– N=p.q
– ø(N)=(p-1)(q-1)
– carefully chosen e & d to be inverses mod ø(N)
– hence e.d=1+k.ø(N) for some k
• hence :
Cd = (Me)d = M1+k.ø(N) = M1.(Mø(N))q =
M1.(1)q = M1 = M mod N
 RSA Example
1. Select primes: p=17 & q=11
2. Compute n = pq =17×11=187
3. Compute ø(n)=(p–1)(q-1)=16×10=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 23×7=161= 10×160+1
6. Publish public key KU={7,187}
7. Keep secret private key KR={23,17,11}
 RSA Example cont
• sample RSA encryption/decryption is:
• given message M = 88 (nb. 88<187)
• encryption:
C = 887 mod 187 = 11
• decryption:
M = 1123 mod 187 = 88
 Exponentiation
• can use the Square and Multiply Algorithm
• a fast, efficient algorithm for exponentiation
• concept is based on repeatedly squaring base
• and multiplying in the ones that are needed to
compute the result
• look at binary representation of exponent
• only takes O(log2 n) multiples for number n
– eg. 75 = 74.71 = 3.7 = 10 mod 11
– eg. 3129 = 3128.31 = 5.3 = 4 mod 11
Exponentiation
 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
• three approaches to attacking RSA:
– 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)
 Factoring Problem
• mathematical approach takes 3 forms:
– factor N=p.q, hence find ø(N) and then d
– determine ø(N) directly and find d
– find d directly
• currently believe all equivalent to factoring
– have seen slow improvements over the years
• as of Aug-99 best is 130 decimal digits (512) bit with GNFS
– biggest improvement comes from improved algorithm
• cf “Quadratic Sieve” to “Generalized Number Field Sieve”
– barring dramatic breakthrough 1024+ bit RSA secure
• ensure p, q of similar size and matching other constraints
 Timing Attacks
• developed in mid-1990’s
• exploit timing variations in operations
– eg. multiplying by small vs large number
– or IF's varying which instructions executed
• infer operand size based on time taken
• RSA exploits time taken in exponentiation
• countermeasures
– use constant exponentiation time
– add random delays
– blind values used in calculations
 Summary
• have considered:
– principles of public-key cryptography
– RSA algorithm, implementation, security