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Definition
Preimage resistance is the property of a hash function that it is hard to invert, that is, given an element in the range of a hash function, it should be computationally infeasible to find an input that maps to that element.
Background
The concept of one-way functions in cryptography is attributed to Jevons (1874). Needham suggested in 1966 to use one-way functions in order to protect password files in computer systems. The use of one-way hash functions in cryptography was proposed in 1976 by Diffie and Hellman [ 2].
Theory
Preimage resistance corresponds to one-wayness, which is typically used for functions with input and output domain of similar size (One-Way Function). A minimal requirement for a hash function to be preimage resistant is that the length of its result should be at least 90 bits (in 2011). Preimage resistance needs to be...
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Recommended Reading
Damgård IB (1990) A design principle for hash functions. In: Brassard G (ed) Advances in cryptology, Proceedings Crypto’89, Santa Barbara. LNCS, vol 435. Springer, New York, pp 416–427
Diffie W, Hellman ME (1976) New directions in cryptography. IEEE T Info Theory IT–22(6):644–654
Gibson JK (1990) Some comments on Damgård’s hashing principle. Electron Lett 26(15):1178–1179
Merkle R (1979) Secrecy, authentication, and public key systems. UMI Research Press, Ann Arbor
Preneel B (1993) Analysis and design of crypto-graphic hash functions. Doctoral Dissertation, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Preneel B (1999) The state of cryptographic hash functions. In: Damgård I (ed) Lectures on data security. LNCS, vol 1561. Springer, Berlin, pp 158–182
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Rogaway P, Shrimpton T (2004) Cryptographic hash function basics: Definitions, implications, and separations for preimage resistance, second-preimage resistance, and collision resistance. In: Roy BK, Meier W (eds) Fast software encryption. LNCS, vol 3017. Springer, Berlin, pp 371–388
Stinson DR (2006) Some observations on the theory of cryptographic hash functions. Design Code Cryptogr 38(2):259–277
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Preneel, B. (2011). Preimage Resistance. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A., Jajodia, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-5906-5_604
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