Encryption methods based on plaintext length
Examples discussed herein disclose, among other things, a method. The method includes, among other things, obtaining a plaintext, obtaining a key from a plurality of keys, and determining whether the plaintext is longer than a predefined threshold length. If the plaintext is longer than the predefined threshold length, the method may encrypt the plaintext with the key to generate a first ciphertext having a length of the plaintext, where the character at a predefined position within the first ciphertext belongs to a first subset of characters. And if the plaintext is not longer than the predefined threshold length, the method may encrypt the plaintext with the key to generate a second ciphertext, which is longer than the plaintext, where the character at the same predefined position in the second ciphertext belongs to a second subset of characters.
1. An encrypting device comprising:
an encryption method selector to:
obtain a key from a plurality of keys,
obtain a plaintext having a first length, and
determine whether the plaintext is longer than a predefined threshold length;
a length-preserving encryptor to:
responsive to a determination, by the encryption method selector, that the plaintext is longer than the predefined threshold length, encrypt the plaintext using the key to produce a first ciphertext having the first length and including a character from a first subset of characters in a predefined position, wherein the character from the first subset of characters indicates a first encryption method was used to produce the first ciphertext; and
a length-extending encryptor to:
responsive to a determination, by the encryption method selector, that the plaintext is not longer than the predefined threshold length, encrypt the plaintext using the key to produce a second ciphertext having a second length, wherein the second length is longer than the first length, and including a character from a second subset of characters in the predefined position, wherein the character from the second subset of characters indicates a second encryption method was used to produce the second ciphertext, and wherein the first subset of characters does not intersect with the second subset of characters.
2. The encrypting device of claim 1 , wherein:
the length-preserving encryptor is to use the first encryption method to encrypt the plaintext, the first encryption method being ascertainable based on the character from the first subset of characters in the predefined position in the first ciphertext; and
the length-extending encryptor is to use the second encryption method to encrypt the plaintext, the second encryption method being ascertainable based on the character from the second subset of characters in the predefined position in the second ciphertext.
3. The encrypting device of claim 1 , wherein:
the length-preserving encryptor is to produce the first ciphertext by pseudo-randomly mapping the plaintext into one of a first plurality of ciphertexts;
the length-extending encryptor is to produce the second ciphertext by pseudo-randomly mapping the plaintext into one of a second plurality of ciphertexts, wherein the first plurality of ciphertexts comprises more ciphertexts than the second plurality of ciphertexts.
4. A method comprising:
obtaining a plaintext;
obtaining a key from a plurality of keys;
determining, by an encryption selector, whether the plaintext is longer than a predefined threshold length;
based on a determination by the encryption selector that the plaintext is longer than the predefined threshold length, encrypting, by a first encryptor, the plaintext with the key to generate a first ciphertext having a length of the plaintext, wherein the first ciphertext comprises, at a predefined position, a character from a first subset of characters wherein the character from the first subset of characters indicates a first encryption method was used to produce the first ciphertext; and
based on a determination by the encryption selector that the plaintext is not longer than the predefined threshold length, encrypting, by a second encryptor, the plaintext with the key to generate a second ciphertext longer than the plaintext, wherein the second ciphertext comprises, at the predefined position, a character from a second subset of characters, wherein the character from the second subset of characters indicates a second encryption method was used to produce the second ciphertext, and wherein the second subset of characters does not intersect with the first subset of characters.
5. The method of claim 4 , wherein a reference associated with the key is ascertainable based on one of the first ciphertext and the second ciphertext.
6. The method of claim 4 , wherein a reference associated with the key is ascertainable based on a set of characters positioned at a set of predefined positions within one of the first ciphertext and the second ciphertext.
7. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first ciphertext is generated by encrypting the plaintext using a length-preserving encryption method.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the second ciphertext is generated by encrypting the plaintext using a length-extending encryption method.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein:
the length-preserving encryption method produces the first ciphertext by pseudo-randomly mapping the plaintext into one of a first plurality of ciphertexts; and
the length-extending encryption method produces the second ciphertext by pseudo-randomly mapping the plaintext into one of a second plurality of ciphertexts, wherein the first plurality of ciphertexts comprises more ciphertexts than the second plurality of ciphertexts.
10. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium encoded with instructions executable by a processor of a computing device to cause the computing device to:
obtain a ciphertext;
based on a character positioned at a predefined position in the ciphertext, determine whether an encryption method that was used to generate the ciphertext is a length-preserving encryption method or a length-extending encryption method, wherein a character from a first subset of characters indicates that the length-preserving encryption method was used, wherein a character from a second subset of characters indicates that the length-extending encryption method was used, and wherein the first subset of characters does not intersect with the second subset of characters;
based on the encryption method and the ciphertext, determine a key reference associated with a key that was used to generate the ciphertext;
obtain the key based on the key reference; and
based on the encryption method, decrypt the ciphertext using the key to produce a plaintext.
11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein determining the key reference comprises:
based on a determination that the encryption method is the length-extending encryption method, determining the key reference based at least on the character positioned at the predefined position in the ciphertext.
12. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein determining the key reference comprises:
based on a determination that the encryption method is the length-preserving encryption method, determining the key reference based on which subset of ciphertexts, among a plurality of subsets of ciphertexts, the ciphertext belongs to.
13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the instructions further cause the computing device to:
determine a length of the plaintext based on the character positioned at the predefined position in the ciphertext.
14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the length-preserving encryption method produces the ciphertext by pseudo-randomly mapping the plaintext into one of a plurality of ciphertexts.
15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the length-extending encryption method produces the ciphertext by pseudo-randomly mapping the plaintext into one of a plurality of ciphertexts.