Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead

- Benjamin Franklin (1706 - 1790)

IT325 Introduction to Cryptography

Cryptography
Crypt = secret Graph = writing Cryptography is the science / art of transforming intelligible text into unintelligible text. Cryptanalysis is the science / art of breaking cryptographic codes. Cryptology is the study of both cryptography and cryptanalysis.

Why do we need Cryptography ?

Assuring data confidentiality Assuring data integrity Authentication of entities Authentication of data Signing document Securing transaction Exchanging keys Sharing secrets Preserving anonymity Avoiding repudiation and so on

What is Security?
One hand: - Making sure that bad things do not happen - Reducing the chances that bad things will happen - Lowering the impact of bad things - Providing means to recover from bad things On the other hand: - Allowing good things to happen - Managing the cost of the system

A two-party game
Two friends Alice and Bob are in two different cities. They want to spend winter vacation together in some place. They want to finalize where to go. Bob wants to be in India, but Alice prefers to visit Australia. However, they were unable to resolve this issue (no one gives up !). So, what is the solution?
They decided to toss a coin over phone and based on its outcome either Alice or Bob wins the game (go to his/her favorite place).

Coin tossing over phone

Ideal situation: Alice wins if the coin face is head; Bob wins if it is tail. Over Phone: Alice and Bob pick a number and communicate them to others (Alice first and Bob next !).

If the sum of these numbers is odd then Alice wins, else Bob.

Coin tossing over phone

Alice picks a number X and sends it to Bob Bob picks a number Y and sends the value of Y to Alice

Alice wins if X + Y is odd Bob wins if X + Y is even

Coin tossing over phone

Alice picks a number X and sends value of Z = f(X) to Bob Bob picks a number Y and sends value of Y to Alice Alice now sends value of X to Bob Bob checks if f(X) matches with Z that was sent before Alice wins if X + Y is odd Bob wins if X + Y is even
Assumption: For every integer x, it is easy to compute f(x), while given any value f(x) it is hard (infeasible) to find any information about x.