Elliptical Curve Cryptography

Manish Kumar
Roll No - 43
CS-A, S-7
SOE, CUSAT
 Outline
Introduction
Cryptography
Mathematical Background
Elliptic Curves
Elliptic Curves Arithmetic
Elliptical Curve Cryptography(ECC)
Applications
Conclusion
References
 Introduction
Cryptography
– Cryptography is science of using mathematics to
encrypt and decrypt data.
– Cryptography provide us mechanism to send, sensitive

data through insecure network (like internet).

 Introduction
Secret key cryptography
– The encryption key and decryption key are the
same.
– Key Distribution Problem.
 Introduction
Public key cryptography
–Different key for encryption and decryption
• Public-key and private-key
– Key distribution problem is solved.
 Introduction
A comparison of public –key Cryptosystems
 Introduction
Elliptical Curve Cryptography
– ECC was introduced by Victor Miller and Neal Koblitz in

1985.
– It’s new approach to Public key cryptography.
– ECC requires significantly smaller key size with same
level of security.
– Benefits of having smaller key sizes : faster
computations, need less storage space.
– ECC ideal for : Pagers ; PDAs ; Cellular Phones ;
Smart Cards.
 Mathematical Background
A group is an algebric system consisting of a
set G together with a binary operation * defined
on G satisfying the following axioms :
– Closure : for all x, y in G we have x * y ∈ G
– Associativity : for all x, y and z in G we have
(x * y) * z = x * (y * z)
– Identity element : There is an element e in G such
that a · e = e · a = a for all a in G.
– Inverse element : For each a in G there is an
element a' in G such that a · a' = a' · a = e.
 Mathematical Background
In addition if for x, y in G we have x * y = y * x
then we say that group G is abelian.
A finite field is an algebraic system consisting
of a set F together with a binary operations +
and * defined on F satisfying the following
axioms :
– F is an abelian group with respect to +.
– F \ {0} is an abelian group with respect to *.
 Mathematical Background
– For all x, y and z in F we have
x * ( y + z) = (x * y) + (x * z)
(x + y) * z = (x * z) + (y * z)
The order of the finite field is the number of
elements in the field.
 Elliptic Curves
Elliptic curves are not
ellipses (the name comes
from elliptic integrals)
Standard Form Equation
y2 = x3 + a.x + b
where x, y, a and b are
real numbers.
Each choice of the
numbers a and b yields a
different elliptic curve.
 Elliptic Curves
If 4·a3 + 27·b2 is not 0 (i.e. x3 + a · x + b contains no
repeated factors), then the elliptic curve can be used
to form a group

An elliptic curve group consists of the points on the

curve and a special point O, meeting point of curve
with a straight line at infinity.
 Elliptic curve Arithmetic
– Point Addition
Draw a line that intersects
distinct points P and Q

The line will intersect a third
point -R
Draw a vertical line through
point -R

The line will intersect a fourth
point R
Point R is defined as the
summation of points P and
Q
 R=P+Q
 Elliptic curve Arithmetic
Draw a line that
intersects points P and
-P
 The line will not intersect
a third point
For this reason, elliptic
curves include O, a
point at infinity
 P + (-P) = O
 O is the additive identity
 Elliptic curve Arithmetic
– Point Doubling
Draw a line tangent to point
P

The line will intersect a second
point -R
Draw a vertical line through
point -R

The line will intersect a third
point R
Point R is defined as the
summation of point P with
itself
 R = 2·P
 Elliptical Curve Cryptography
Point Multiplication
– The main cryptographic operation in ECC is point
multiplication.

– Point multiplication is performed through a combination

of point additions and point doublings,
e.g.11P = 2((2(2P)) + P) + P.

– Point multiplication is simply calculating Q=k . P, where

k is an integer and P is a point on the curve called as
base point.
 Elliptical Curve Cryptography
Point Multiplication
– Each curve has a specially designated point P called
the base point chosen such that a large fraction of the
elliptic curve points are multiples of it.

– To generate a key pair, one selects a random integer k

which serves as the private key, and computes k P
which serves as the corresponding public key.
 Elliptical Curve Cryptography
The Elliptic curve discrete logarithm
problem
– The discrete logarithm problem for ECC is the
inverse of point multiplication.

– Given points P and Q, find a number k such that

k·P =Q
– where P and Q are points on the elliptic curve
– Q is the public key
– k is the private key (very large prime number)
Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm
– We can find the value of k by adding P, k-times.

– This is called Brute-force Method (not work when

k is large)

– Pollard’s rho is best method to solve DLP.

– Running time of Pollard’s rho is exponential.

 Elliptical Curve Cryptography
What makes ECC hard to crack?
– The security of ECC relies on the difficulty of
solving the Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm
Problem (ECDLP)
i.e. finding k, given P and Q = k P. The problem is
computationally intractable for large values of k.
 Performance Comparison
ADVANTAGES OF ECC OVER RSA
– Smaller key size for equivalent security.
– Faster and Less computations.
– Less memory.
 Applications
Significant performance benefits from using ECC
in secure web transaction.
Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm(ECDSA)
ECC can be used in constrained Environments:
Pagers ; PDAs ; Cellular Phones ; Smart Cards where
traditional public-key mechanisms are simply
impractical.
 Conclusion
ECC uses groups and a logarithm problem.
ECC is a stronger option than the RSA and
discrete logarithm systems for the future.
Due to small key size, implementation is easy.
ECC is excellent choice for portable, communicati-
on devices.
ECC’s main advantage: as key length increases,
so does the difficulty of the inversion process.
 References
Cryptography and Network Security Principles and Practices,
Fourth Edition,PHI, By William Stallings.
Guide to Elliptic Curve Cryptography By Darrel Hankerson,
Alfred Menezes, Scott Vanstone.
Elliptic Curve Cryptography – How it Works Sheueling Chang,
Hans Eberle, Vipul Gupta, Nils Gura, Sun Microsystems
Laboratories.
The Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem For Smart Cards, A Certicom
White Paper, Published: May 1998 .
Elliptic Curve Cryptography An Implementation Guide By
Anoop MS anoopms@tataelxsi.co.in .