Questions

1. Callie wants to send the message M = 13 to Alice. Using Alice’s public

and private keys, calculate the ciphertext C, and the value for R when
Alice recovers the message.

Solution :

1. Callie encrypts message M = 13:

• Alice’s public key is (n, e) = (33, 3).

C=Me mod n = (13)3 mod 33 = 2197 mod 33 = 19

C = 19.

• Callie sends to Alice ciphertext C = 19.

Alice receives and decrypts ciphertext C = 19:

• Alice uses her private key (n, d) = (33, 7).

• When M = 197 mod 33

How to calculate 197

(19)1 = 19 mod 33 = 19

(19)2 = 192 mod 33= 361 mod 33 = 31

(19)4 = 312 mod 33 = 961 mod 33 = 4

(19)8 = 42 mod 33 = 16 mod 33 = 16

BINARY OF 7 = 0111

197 mod 33 = 19 X 31 X 4 MOD 33

= 2356 MOD 33 = 13

the remainder is R = 13.

• R = 13 = M, the original message from Callie!

Example 2 : Dexter wants to set up his own public and private keys.

He chooses p = 23 and q = 19 with e = 283.Find d so that ed has a remainder of 1

when divided by (p − 1)(q − 1).

Solution :

With p = 23, q = 19, we have m = (p − 1)(q − 1) = 22 x 18 = 396.

We want to find d so that ed = 283d has a remainder of 1 when divided by m =

396.

One way to do this is by simple trial and error, increasing the value of d until 283d
divided by 396 leaves a remainder of 1.

We see that d = 7 works; that is ed = 283 × 7 = 1981 leaves a remainder of 1

when divided by 396.

In general, trial and error could take a very long time, as the value of d could
be a big number. Instead, an ancient technique called Euclid’s Algorithm
can be used to find d in the linear Diophantine equation 283d + 396y = 1.

Example 3 :

 Choose p = 3 and q = 11
 Compute n = p * q = 3 * 11 = 33
 Compute φ(n) = (p - 1) * (q - 1) = 2 * 10 = 20
 Choose e such that 1 < e < φ(n) and e and n are coprime. Let e = 7
 Compute a value for d such that (d * e) % φ(n) = 1.
  One solution is d = 3 [(3 * 7) % 20 = 1]
 Public key is (e, n) => (7, 33)
 Private key is (d, n) => (3, 33)
 The encryption of m = 2 is c = 27 % 33 = 29
 The decryption of c = 29 is m = 293 % 33 = 2

Example 4 :

• p = 11, q = 7, n = 77,  (n) = 60

• d = 13, e = 37 (ed = 481; ed mod 60 = 1)

• Let M = 15. Then C  Me mod n

– C  1537 (mod 77) = 71

• M  Cd mod n

– M  7113 (mod 77) = 15

Example 5 :

1. Let p = 7 and q = 13 be the two primes.

2. n = pq = 91 and φ = (p − 1)(q − 1) = 72.

3. Choose e. Let’s look among the primes.

• Try e = 2. gcd(2,72) = 2 (does not work)

• Try e = 3. gcd(3,72) = 3 (does not work)

• Try e = 5. gcd(5,72) = 1 (it works)

We choose e = 5.

Example :

Creating a Public and Private Key

 R andomly choose two LAR GE distinct primes p and q.

 Le t m=pq
 C alculate ϕ(m)=(p−1)(q−1)
 C hoose an integer e such that ( e,ϕ(m))=1
 Find an integer d which satisfies ed≡1modϕ(m)

Your public key will be the ordered pair ( e,m),

while your private key is the ordere d pair ( d,m).

In orde r to avoid confusion with the Greatest C ommon Divisor function we will e x plicitly state whe n (#,#) is a
public/private k ey. It is important that the only information m ade public is your public k ey. This
m e ans p , q , ϕ(m) and d must be k ept secret because with any of this information, one could bre ak the code.

Encryption
S et Up

To be gin, we m ust associate e ach letter of the alphabet with a unique number. This will allow us to convert our
m e ssage into a series of numbers which we can then perform operations on. Let us use the following table for this,
Letter Number Letter Number

A 00 N 13

B 01 O 14

C 02 P 15

D 03 Q 16

E 04 R 17

F 05 S 18

G 06 T 19

H 07 U 20

I 08 V 21

J 09 W 22

K 10 X 23

L 11 Y 24

M 12 Z 25

"__" 26

Note that instead of letting A=0, we se t it equal to 00. This is because once we get up to K we start using double
digits. If we have a mix of single digits and double digits it would be impossible to convert back to our original
m e ssage. Also, it is useful to denote spaces in betwe e n words with a number. We will use an underscore betwe en
words inste ad of space to make it cleare r.

Le ts look at an e xample, say our plaintext is

message: NUMBER _THEO RY

N U M B E R _ T H E O R Y

13 20 12 01 04 17 26 19 07 04 14 17 24

So we ge t,

plaintext: 13201201041726190704141724

The En c r yp tion Alg or ithm

  C onvert plaintext into its numerical equivalent, as shown previously
 R e call the public k ey you are using is ( e,m)
 Se parate these numbers into blocks, which are viewe d as a single number, and label them P1 , P_2, ..., P_k$,
m ak ing sure that for e ach 1≤i≤k that Pi <m.
 For e ach 1≤i≤k, compute (Pi )emodm and label the re sult C i
 The re sulting blocks C1,C2,...,Ck are your new cipher te xt.

You can now transmit C1 ,C2 ,...,Ck

E x am p l e o f t h e E n cryp ti o n A l gori t h m

Le ts say our old friend Chloe chose p=31, and q=37 for her prime numbers,

which give s m=(31)(37)=1147.

ϕ(m)=ϕ(1147)=(31−1)(37−1)=1080.

The n she must find an integer e which is re latively prime to 1080. She randomly selects e=17, and note
that (17,1080)=1. So C hloe publishes her public k ey of (17,1147).

Say Jack wants to send Chloe an e ncrypted message using R SA. All he knows is C hloe's public key (17,1147), so he
use s this in the encryption algorithm.

Jack 's secre t message to C hloe states,

message: W E_LO VE_MATH

Afte r conve rting to numericals using the table above Jack has,

plaintext : 220426111421042612001907

He bre aks the numerical form of the message into blocks of 3 making sure e ach block is less than m .

plaintext in blocks: 220 426 111 421 042 612 001 907

So,

(1)
220=P1
426=P2
111=P3
421=P4
042=P5
612=P5
001=P7
907=P8

He the n computes for e ach Pi , from i=1 to i=8, Peimodm, with e =17, and m =1147 taken from C hloe's public k ey. And
the re sult is the cipherte xt

(2)
 (220)17 mod1147
(426)17 mod1147
(111)17 mod1147
(421)17 mod1147
(042)17 mod1147
(612)17 mod1147
(001)17 mod1147
(907)17 mod1147
≡611≡1145≡851≡510≡96≡246≡1≡405

So his ciphertext becomes,

ciphertext: 611 1145 851 510 96 246 1 405

And Jack sends "611 1145 851 510 96 246 1 405" to Chloe.

The Dec r yp tion Alg or ithm

 Le t C1 ,C2 ,...,Ck be your ciphertext blocks, and ( d,m) be your private key
 For e ach 1≤i≤k, compute (C i)d modm and the re sult will be Pi whe re 0≤Pi <m
 The n, P1 ,P2,...,Pk is your plaintext in numerical form
 Finally, convert the pairs of two -digit numbers back to its alphabetical e quivalent using our table.

Your m essage should now be comprehensible.

E x am p l e o f t h e De cr ypt i on A l gori t hm

Again, re turning to our Jack and Chloe e xample, Jack was sending a m essage to Chloe using her public key. Now for
C hloe to decrypt a m essage sent to her, she must use her private key. We will re -use C hloe's key information in this
e x ample.

 C hloe (and ONLY C hloe) k nows m =1147=(31)(37), so ϕ(1147)=1080

 R e call she uses e=17
 The next step is solving for d , which is the multiplicative inverse of e mod1080

So Chloe k nows he r private key is (953, 1147).

Now le ts se e how C hloe uses this info to decrypt a message. Say for e xample, Jack uses C hloe's public key and sends
he r another message using a block size of 3. This is what C hloe re cieves,

ciphertext: 1 41 203 744 472 947 423 968 718

C hloe has all the information she needs to go through the decryption process to see what Jack sent her. Taking each
ciphe rte xt block C 1 =1,C 2=41,...,C 9 =560, and k nowing d=953, and m =1147, she computes C 953i mod1147. The
re sulting integers are the plaintext P1,P2 ,...,P9 . She gets,

(6)
1953 41953 203953744953 472953 947953 423953 968953 718953 mod1147≡1=P1 mod1147≡324=P2 mod1147≡261=P3 mod1147≡6
20=P4 mod1147≡41=P5 mod1147≡819=P6 mod1147≡81=P7 mod1147≡413=P8 mod1147≡180=P9

resulting #'s: 1 324 261 620 41 819 81 413 180

So the re sulting numbers should be the plaintext in number form. Since C hloe knows that Jack used a block size of 3,
she k nows to add e xtra zeros to P1=1, P5 =41, and P7=81. So P1 becomes 001, P5 becomes 041, and P7 becomes
081. So C hloe has the plaintext:

plaintext: 001 324 261 620 041 819 081 413 180

Finally she re groups into pairs of two so she can covert e ach pair back into its alphabetical equivalent.

00 13 24 26 16 20 04 18 19 08 14 13 18 0

A N Y _ Q U E S T I O N S

W hy is there a loner "0" at the e nd of out m essage, and how do we convert it back to alphabetical form? Since C hloe
k nows there is no letter of the alphabet paired up with the single digit "0" in their conversion table, she concludes this
e x tra "'0" must be a filler space. Jack simply added a meaningless bit of information to his plaintext in order to divide
the plaintext evenly into groups of thre e. It is important to see here that the original m essage did not divide e venly
into groups of three. If we try and do this, we will be left with the last block of "18", which cle arly is not 3 digits as
spe cified. So a filler space is needed, and "0" was randomly chosen to fill in. So finally, we have the message Jack sent
to C hloe is,

message: ANY_Q UESTIONS