Paper 1998/024 Original: eprint.iacr.org/1998/024 ↗
The Disparity between Work and Entropy in Cryptology
Abstract
A brief theory of work is developed. In it, the work-factor and guesswork of a random variable are linked to intuitive notions of time complexity in a brute-force attack. Bounds are given for a specific work-factor called the minimum majority. Tight bounds are given for the guesswork in terms of variation distance. Differences between work-factor, guesswork and the entropy of a random variable are pointed out, calling into question a common misconception about entropy indicating work.
Metadata
- Available format(s)
PDF- Publication info
- Preprint.
- History
- 1999-02-01: last updated
- 1998-11-09: published
- Short URL
- https://ia.cr/1998/024
- License
- https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
BibTeX
@misc{cryptoeprint:1998/024,
author = {John Pliam},
title = {The Disparity between Work and Entropy in Cryptology},
howpublished = {Cryptology {ePrint} Archive, Paper 1998/024},
year = {1998},
url = {https://eprint.iacr.org/1998/024}
}