2,689 research outputs found
Survey and Benchmark of Block Ciphers for Wireless Sensor Networks
Cryptographic algorithms play an important role in the security architecture of wireless sensor networks (WSNs). Choosing the most storage- and energy-efficient block cipher is essential, due to the facts that these networks are meant to operate without human intervention for a long period of time with little energy supply, and that available storage is scarce on these sensor nodes. However, to our knowledge, no systematic work has been done in this area so far.We construct an evaluation framework in which we first identify the candidates of block ciphers suitable for WSNs, based on existing literature and authoritative recommendations. For evaluating and assessing these candidates, we not only consider the security properties but also the storage- and energy-efficiency of the candidates. Finally, based on the evaluation results, we select the most suitable ciphers for WSNs, namely Skipjack, MISTY1, and Rijndael, depending on the combination of available memory and required security (energy efficiency being implicit). In terms of operation mode, we recommend Output Feedback Mode for pairwise links but Cipher Block Chaining for group communications
KLEIN: A New Family of Lightweight Block Ciphers
Resource-efficient cryptographic primitives become fundamental for realizing both security and efficiency in embedded systems like RFID tags and sensor nodes. Among those primitives, lightweight block cipher plays a major role as a building block for security protocols. In this paper, we describe a new family of lightweight block ciphers named KLEIN, which is designed for resource-constrained devices such as wireless sensors and RFID tags. Compared to the related proposals, KLEIN has advantage in the software performance on legacy sensor platforms, while in the same time its hardware implementation can also be compact
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Morpheus: stream cipher for software & hardware applications
In a world where electronic devices with different characteristics are networked, privacy is an essential element for the communicating process. Privacy can be achieved by encryption algorithms with unique features based on the application that are deployed. In this paper a word-oriented stream cipher, or Morpheus, for both hardware and software devices, is proposed. Morpheus targets multimedia applications, such as Games-On-Demand or IPTV, where data are usually streamed over different kind of networks and devices. Morpheus behaves very well in all known statistical tests and is resilient to known attacks for both synchronous and self-synchronous encryption modes
MV3: A new word based stream cipher using rapid mixing and revolving buffers
MV3 is a new word based stream cipher for encrypting long streams of data. A
direct adaptation of a byte based cipher such as RC4 into a 32- or 64-bit word
version will obviously need vast amounts of memory. This scaling issue
necessitates a look for new components and principles, as well as mathematical
analysis to justify their use. Our approach, like RC4's, is based on rapidly
mixing random walks on directed graphs (that is, walks which reach a random
state quickly, from any starting point). We begin with some well understood
walks, and then introduce nonlinearity in their steps in order to improve
security and show long term statistical correlations are negligible. To
minimize the short term correlations, as well as to deter attacks using
equations involving successive outputs, we provide a method for sequencing the
outputs derived from the walk using three revolving buffers. The cipher is fast
-- it runs at a speed of less than 5 cycles per byte on a Pentium IV processor.
A word based cipher needs to output more bits per step, which exposes more
correlations for attacks. Moreover we seek simplicity of construction and
transparent analysis. To meet these requirements, we use a larger state and
claim security corresponding to only a fraction of it. Our design is for an
adequately secure word-based cipher; our very preliminary estimate puts the
security close to exhaustive search for keys of size < 256 bits.Comment: 27 pages, shortened version will appear in "Topics in Cryptology -
CT-RSA 2007
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