Definition: Group A set G of elements and operator @ form a group if: for all x,y in G, x @ y is also in G (inclusion) there is an identity element e such that for all x in G, e@x = x for all x in G, there is an inverse element x
Digital Signatures and Message Authentication Code (MAC) overview Suppose Alice and Bob share a secret key k which determines hash function hk Alice sends (x, y) to Bob where y = hk