Differentially 4-uniform functions

We give a geometric characterization of vectorial boolean functions with differential uniformity less or equal to 4

A new family of semifields with 2 parameters

A new family of commutative semifields with two parameters is presented. Its left and middle nucleus are both determined. Furthermore, we prove that for any different pairs of parameters, these semifields are not isotopic. It is also shown that, for some special parameters, one semifield in this family can lead to two inequivalent planar functions. Finally, using similar construction, new APN functions are given

Analysis, classification and construction of optimal cryptographic Boolean functions

Modern cryptography is deeply founded on mathematical theory and vectorial Boolean functions play an important role in it. In this context, some cryptographic properties of Boolean functions are defined. In simple terms, these properties evaluate the quality of the cryptographic algorithm in which the functions are implemented. One cryptographic property is the differential uniformity, introduced by Nyberg in 1993. This property is related to the differential attack, introduced by Biham and Shamir in 1990. The corresponding optimal functions are called Almost Perfect Nonlinear functions, shortly APN. APN functions have been constructed, studied and classified up to equivalence relations. Very important is their classification in infinite families, i.e. constructing APN functions that are defined for infinitely many dimensions. In spite of an intensive study of these maps, many fundamental problems related to APN functions are still open and relatively few infinite families are known so far. In this thesis we present some constructions of APN functions and study some of their properties. Specifically, we consider a known construction, L1(x^3)+L2(x^9) with L1 and L2 linear maps, and we introduce two new constructions, the isotopic shift and the generalised isotopic shift. In particular, using the two isotopic shift constructing techniques, in dimensions 8 and 9 we obtain new APN functions and we cover many unclassified cases of APN maps. Here new stands for inequivalent (in respect to the so-called CCZ-equivalence) to already known ones. Afterwards, we study two infinite families of APN functions and their generalisations. We show that all these families are equivalent to each other and they are included in another known family. For many years it was not known whether all the constructed infinite families of APN maps were pairwise inequivalent. With our work, we reduce the list to those inequivalent to each other. Furthermore, we consider optimal functions with respect to the differential uniformity in fields of odd characteristic. These functions, called planar, have been valuable for the construction of new commutative semifields. Planar functions present often a close connection with APN maps. Indeed, the idea behind the isotopic shift construction comes from the study of isotopic equivalence, which is defined for quadratic planar functions. We completely characterise the mentioned equivalence by means of the isotopic shift and the extended affine equivalence. We show that the isotopic shift construction leads also to inequivalent planar functions and we analyse some particular cases of this construction. Finally, we study another cryptographic property, the boomerang uniformity, introduced by Cid et al. in 2018. This property is related to the boomerang attack, presented by Wagner in 1999. Here, we study the boomerang uniformity for some known classes of permutation polynomials.Doktorgradsavhandlin

Quadratic Zero-Difference Balanced Functions, APN Functions and Strongly Regular Graphs

Let $F$ be a function from $\mathbb{F}_{p^n}$ to itself and $\delta$ a positive integer. $F$ is called zero-difference $\delta$-balanced if the equation $F(x+a)-F(x)=0$ has exactly $\delta$ solutions for all non-zero $a\in\mathbb{F}_{p^n}$. As a particular case, all known quadratic planar functions are zero-difference 1-balanced; and some quadratic APN functions over $\mathbb{F}_{2^n}$ are zero-difference 2-balanced. In this paper, we study the relationship between this notion and differential uniformity; we show that all quadratic zero-difference $\delta$-balanced functions are differentially $\delta$-uniform and we investigate in particular such functions with the form $F=G(x^d)$, where $\gcd(d,p^n-1)=\delta +1$ and where the restriction of $G$ to the set of all non-zero $(\delta +1)$-th powers in $\mathbb{F}_{p^n}$ is an injection. We introduce new families of zero-difference $p^t$-balanced functions. More interestingly, we show that the image set of such functions is a regular partial difference set, and hence yields strongly regular graphs; this generalizes the constructions of strongly regular graphs using planar functions by Weng et al. Using recently discovered quadratic APN functions on $\mathbb{F}_{2^8}$, we obtain $15$ new $(256, 85, 24, 30)$ negative Latin square type strongly regular graphs

On construction and (non)existence of c-(almost) perfect nonlinear functions

Functions with low differential uniformity have relevant applications in cryptography. Recently, functions with low c-differential uniformity attracted lots of attention. In particular, so-called APcN and PcN functions (generalization of APN and PN functions) have been investigated. Here, we provide a characterization of such functions via quadratic polynomials as well as non-existence results.publishedVersio