English

One Time Pad and the Short Key Dream

Cryptography and Security 2021-08-17 v1

Abstract

This is a survey on the One Time Pad (OTP) and its derivatives, from its origins to modern times. OTP, if used correctly, is (the only) cryptographic code that no computing power, present or future, can break. Naturally, the discussion shifts to the creation of long random sequences, starting from short ones, which can be easily shared. We could call it the Short Key Dream. Many problems inevitably arise, which affect many fields of computer science, mathematics and knowledge in general. This work presents a vast bibliography that includes fundamental classical works and current papers on randomness, pseudorandom number generators, compressibility, unpredictability and more.

Cite

@article{arxiv.2108.06981,
  title  = {One Time Pad and the Short Key Dream},
  author = {Umberto Cerruti},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2108.06981},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

30 pages, 7 figures To appear in a next volume of the book series Collectio Ciphrarum, http://www.aracneeditrice.it/aracneweb/index.php/collana.html?col=CIPH

R2 v1 2026-06-24T05:08:41.022Z