RE: Early Draft Algorithms Section

Fredrick asked, 

> 1. What advantage is there from the "integrity versions" of 
> the alorithms, where the SHA1 digest of the
> encryption result (and possibly IV) is appended to the 
> encryption value?

I think you misread Donald's text, which said: 

`Optionally, a message digest of the IV and plain text can be included at
the end of and as part of the cipher text on encryption and checked on
decryption as indicated by a different algorithm idenitifer. Such an
integrity check may not be needed if integrity is assured by a digital
signature.`

Therefore, the digest is computed over the _plain_text, i.e. the input to
the encryption, not its result. Of course, this implies that the plaintext
should be properly randomized, just like for the `hash of randomized` that I
asked for. In fact, if the HashOfRandomized tag I've asked for is added,
than it would obviously provide the necessary integrity as well. The only
difference is that by putting it on a separate tag I make it possible (or
easier) to define a transform to sign only the hash, not the ciphertext. 

Best regards, 
Amir Herzberg
CTO, NewGenPay Inc.  

See demo and lectures/overviews/tutorials on crypto-security for mobile,
e-commerce, etc. in http://www.newgenpay.com/mpay/course/course.html

 

Received on Tuesday, 15 May 2001 02:57:48 UTC