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Concept
Key stretching
Summary
In cryptography, key stretching techniques are used to make a possibly weak key, typically a password or passphrase, more secure against a brute-force attack by increasing the resources (time and possibly space) it takes to test each possible key. Passwords or passphrases created by humans are often short or predictable enough to allow password cracking, and key stretching is intended to make such attacks more difficult by complicating a basic step of trying a single password candidate. Key stretching also improves security in some real-world applications where the key length has been constrained, by mimicking a longer key length from the perspective of a brute-force attacker.
There are several ways to perform key stretching. One way is to apply a cryptographic hash function or a block cipher repeatedly in a loop. For example, in applications where the key is used for a cipher, the key schedule in the cipher may be modified so that it takes a specific length of time to perform. Another way is to use cryptographic hash functions that have large memory requirements – these can be effective in frustrating attacks by memory-bound adversaries.
Key stretching algorithms depend on an algorithm which receives an input key and then expends considerable effort to generate a stretched cipher (called an enhanced key) mimicking randomness and longer key length. The algorithm must have no known shortcut, so the most efficient way to relate the input and cipher is to repeat the key stretching algorithm itself. This compels brute-force attackers to expend the same effort for each attempt. If this added effort compares to a brute-force key search of all keys with a certain key length, then the input key may be described as stretched by that same length.
Key stretching leaves an attacker with two options:
Attempt possible combinations of the enhanced key, but this is infeasible if the enhanced key is sufficiently long and unpredictable ( i.e.
Official source
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