Public-Key Cryptography
• Uses two keys – a public & a private key
• Asymmetric since parties are not equal
• Uses clever application of number theoretic
concepts
• Complements rather than replaces secret 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 key invention due to Whitfield Diffie
& Martin Hellman at Stanford 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 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 (>512 bits)
– not comparable to symmetric key sizes
• security relies on a large enough difference in
difficulty between easy (en/decrypt) and hard (to
cryptanalyze) problems
• more generally the hard problem is known, its just
made too hard to do in practice
• requires the use of very large numbers
• hence is slow compared to secret key schemes
RSA
• by Rivest, Shamir & Adleman of MIT in 1977
– patent expired in September 2000
• best known & widely used public-key scheme
• based on modular exponentiation
– exponentiation takes O((log n)3) bit operations (easy)
– still, 1000 times slower than DES (hardware); 100 times
slower in software
• 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=pq
– note ø(N)=(p-1)(q-1)
• selecting the encryption key e
• where 1<e<ø(N), gcd(e,ø(N))=1
• solve following equation to find decryption key d
– ed=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 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)
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
• four 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)
Timing Attacks
• developed in mid-1990’s
• exploit timing variations in operations
– eg. multiplying by small vs large number
– or faults 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
Key Management
• public-key encryption helps address key
distribution problems
• have two aspects of this:
– distribution of public keys
– use of public-key encryption to distribute secret
keys
Key Distribution
• symmetric schemes require both parties to
share a common secret key
• issue is how to securely distribute this key
• often secure system failure due to a break in
the key distribution scheme
Key Distribution
• given parties A and B have various key
distribution alternatives:
1. A can select key and physically deliver to B
2. third party can select & deliver key to A & B
3. if A & B have communicated previously can use
previous key to encrypt a new key
4. if A & B have secure communications with a
third party C, C can relay key between A & B
Key Distribution Scenario
Key Distribution Issues
• hierarchies of KDC’s required for large
networks, but must trust each other
• session key lifetimes should be limited for
greater security
• controlling purposes keys are used for
– lots of keys to keep track of
– binding management information to key
Random Numbers
• many uses of random numbers in cryptography
– Nonces in authentication protocols to prevent replay
– session keys
– public key generation
– keystream for a one-time pad
• in all cases its critical that these values be
– statistically random
• with uniform distribution, independent
– unpredictable: cannot infer future sequence on
previous values
Distribution of Public Keys
• can be considered as using one of:
– Public announcement
– Publicly available directory
– Public-key authority
– Public-key certificates
Public Announcement
• users distribute public keys to recipients or
broadcast to community at large
– eg. append PGP keys to email messages or post to
news groups or email list
• major weakness is forgery
– anyone can create a key claiming to be someone
else and broadcast it
– until forgery is discovered can masquerade as
claimed user
Publicly Available Directory
• can obtain greater security by registering keys
with a public directory
• directory must be trusted with properties:
– contains {name,public-key} entries
– participants register securely with directory
– participants can replace key at any time
– directory is periodically published
– directory can be accessed electronically
• still vulnerable to tampering or forgery
Public-Key Authority
• improve security by tightening control over
distribution of keys from directory
• has properties of directory
• and requires users to know public key for the
directory
• then users interact with directory to obtain
any desired public key securely
– does require real-time access to directory when
keys are needed
Public-Key Authority
Public-Key Certificates
• certificates allow key exchange without real-
time access to public-key authority
• a certificate binds identity to public key
– usually with other info such as period of validity,
rights of use etc
• with all contents signed by a trusted Public-
Key or Certificate Authority (CA)
• can be verified by anyone who knows the
public-key authority’s public-key
Public-Key Certificates
Public-Key Distribution of Secret Keys
• use previous methods to obtain public-key
• can use for secrecy or authentication
• but public-key algorithms are slow
• so usually want to use private-key encryption
to protect message contents
• hence need a session key
• have several alternatives for negotiating a
suitable session
Simple Secret Key Distribution
• proposed by Merkle in 1979
– A generates a new temporary public key pair
– A sends B the public key and their identity
– B generates a session key K sends it to A
encrypted using the supplied public key
– A decrypts the session key and both use
• problem is that an opponent can intercept and
impersonate both halves of protocol
Public-Key Distribution of Secret Keys
• if have securely exchanged public-keys:
Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange
• agreement more than exchange
• first public-key type scheme proposed
• by Diffie & Hellman in 1976 along with the
exposition of public key concepts
– note: now know that James Ellis (UK CESG)
secretly proposed the concept in 1970
• is a practical method for public agreement 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)
• based on exponentiation in a finite (Galois) field
(modulo a prime or a polynomial) - easy
• 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
– α a primitive root mod q
• each user (eg. A) generates their key
– chooses a secret key (number): xA < q
xA
– compute their public key: yA = α mod q
• each user makes public that key yA
Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange
• shared session key for users A & B is KAB:
x x
KAB = α A. B mod q
x
= yA B 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 needs an x, must solve discrete log
• note active attack possible
Diffie-Hellman Example
• users Alice & Bob who wish to swap keys:
• agree on prime q=353 and α=3
• select random secret keys:
– A chooses xA=97, B chooses xB=233
• compute 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)
Thank You…