Security Evaluation against Differential Cryptanalysis for Block Cipher Structures

Estimating immunity against differential and linear cryptanalysis is essential in designing secure block ciphers. A practical measure to achieve it is to find the minimal number of active S-boxes, or a lower bound for this minimal number. In this paper, we provide a general algorithm using integer programming, which not only can estimate a good lower bound of the minimal differential active S-boxes for various block cipher structures, but also provides an efficient way to select new structures with good properties against differential cryptanalysis. Experimental results for the Feistel, CAST256, SMS4, CLEFIA and Generalized Feistel structures indicate that bounds obtained by our algorithm are the tightest except for a few rounds of the SMS4 structure. Then, for the first time, bounds of the differential active S-boxes number for the MISTY1, Skipjack, MARS and Four-cell structures are illustrated with the application of our algorithm. Finally, our algorithm is used to find four new structures with good properties against differential cryptanalysis. Security evaluation against liner cryptanalysis can be processed with our algorithm similarly by considering dual structures

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

Extended Generalized Feistel Networks using Matrix Representation

International audienceWhile Generalized Feistel Networks have been widely studied in the literature as a building block of a block cipher, we propose in this paper a unified vision to easily represent them through a matrix representation. We then propose a new class of such schemes called Extended Generalized Feistel Networks well suited for cryptographic applications. We instantiate those proposals into two particular constructions and we finally analyze their security