The document discusses the Diffie-Hellman algorithm, a secure method for exchanging cryptographic keys over insecure channels, developed by Martin Hellman and Whitfield Diffie in 1976. It outlines how two users, Alice and Bob, can agree on public numbers and use their private keys to calculate a shared secret key without transmitting it over the network. This method ensures secure communication, as the private keys are never shared, making it nearly impossible for hackers to derive the shared key.

1. Diffie Hellman
algorithm

2. Flaw in Symmetric encryption
• Symmetric encryption has always been a reliable method of
cryptography for the exchange of private information.
• A glaring flaw has always been the difficulty in sharing the
requisite secret key with the receiver of the message.
• It can intercept any key transmitted over an insecure channel by
hackers, who can then use the same key to decrypt the
encrypted ciphertexts.

3. Diffie Hellman algorithm
• The Diffie-Hellman algorithm is a method for securely
exchanging cryptographic keys over insecure channels without
compromising the security and integrity of data transmission.
• It was developed and published in 1976 by Martin Hellman and
Whitefield Diffie.
• This algorithm is used to exchange the secret key between the
sender and the receiver.
• This algorithm facilitates the exchange of secret key without
actually transmitting it.

4. How does Diffie-Hellman key exchange work?
• To implement Diffie-Hellman, two end users, Alice and Bob,
mutually agree on positive whole numbers p and q, such that p
is a prime number and q is a generator of p.
• The generator q is a number that, when raised to positive whole-
number powers less than p, never produces the same result for
any two such whole numbers.
• The value of p may be large, but the value of q is usually small.

5. How does Diffie-Hellman key exchange work?
• Once Alice and Bob have agreed on p and q in private,
they choose positive whole-number personal
keys a and b.
• Both a and b are less than the prime number
modulus p.
• Next, Alice and Bob compute public
keys a* and b* based on their personal keys according
to the following formulas:

6. How does Diffie-Hellman key exchange work?
• The two users can share their public keys a* and b* over a
communications medium assumed to be insecure, such as the
internet or a corporate wide area network. From these public
keys, a number x can be generated by either user on the basis
of their own personal keys. Alice computes x using the
following formula:
x = (b*) mod p
• Bob computes x using the following formula:
x = (a*) mod p
• The value of x turns out to be the same according to either of
the above two formulas.

7. How Diffie-Hellman key exchange is secure?
• However, the personal keys a and b, which are critical in
the calculation of x, haven't been transmitted over a
public medium.
• Because it's a large and apparently random number, a
potential hacker has almost no chance of correctly
guessing x, even with the help of a powerful computer
to conduct millions of trials.
• The two users can, therefore, in theory, communicate
privately over a public medium with an encryption
method of their choice using the decryption key x.

8. Summary Diffie-Hellman key exchange
Alice Bob
Public Keys available = p, q Public Keys available =p,q
Private Key Selected = a Private Key Selected = b
Key generated = Key generated =
Exchange of generated keys takes place
Key received = key received =
Generated Secret Key =
(b*)^a mod p
Generated Secret Key =
(a*)^b mod p
Users now have a symmetric secret key to encrypt

9. Example:
• Step 1: Alice and Bob get public numbers p = 23, q = 9
• Step 2: Alice selected a private key a = 4 and
• Bob selected a private key b = 3
• Step 3: Alice and Bob compute public values. Find and
• Alice: =(9^4 mod 23) = (6561 mod 23) = 6
• Bob: = (9^3 mod 23) = (729 mod 23) = 16
• Step 4: Alice and Bob exchange public numbers
• Step 5: Alice receives public key y =16 and
• Bob receives public key x = 6
• Step 6: Find the symmetric keys of Alice and Bob
• Alice: ^a mod p = 65536 mod 23 = 9
• Bob: a ^b mod p = 216 mod 23 = 9
• Step 7: 9 is the shared secret.

10. Example:
• Example: Alice and Bob agree on g =2 and p = 13.
• Alice chooses a = 3; this is her private key and Bob chooses b = 7
for his private key.
• Find their secret Key.
• Sol
• Generated Secret Key =
(11^3) mod 13= (8^7) mod 13=5

11. Example:
• Suppose that two parties A and B wish to set up a
common secret key (D-H key) between themselves
using the Diffie Hellman key exchange technique. They
agree on 7 as the modulus and 3 as the primitive root.
Party A chooses 2 and party B chooses 5 as their
respective secrets. Their D-H key is-
a) 3
b) 4
c) 5
d) 6

12. Example:
• Suppose that two parties A and B wish to set up a
common secret key (D-H key) between themselves
using the Diffie Hellman key exchange technique. They
agree on 7 as the modulus and 3 as the primitive root.
Party A chooses 2 and party B chooses 5 as their
respective secrets. Their D-H key is-
• 3
• 4
• 5
• 6

13. Example:
• In a Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange, Alice and Bob have
chosen prime value q = 17 and primitive root = 5. If
Alice’s secret key is 4 and Bob’s secret key is 6, what is
the secret key they exchanged?
a) 16
b) 17
c) 18
d) 19

14. Example:
• In a Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange, Alice and Bob have
chosen prime value q = 17 and primitive root = 5. If
Alice’s secret key is 4 and Bob’s secret key is 6, what is
the secret key they exchanged?
a) 16
b) 17
c) 18
d) 19