Design of Stream Ciphers and Cryptographic Properties of Nonlinear Functions

Block and stream ciphers are widely used to protect the privacy of digital information. A variety of attacks against block and stream ciphers exist; the most recent being the algebraic attacks. These attacks reduce the cipher to a simple algebraic system which can be solved by known algebraic techniques. These attacks have been very successful against a variety of stream ciphers and major efforts (for example eSTREAM project) are underway to design and analyze new stream ciphers. These attacks have also raised some concerns about the security of popular block ciphers. In this thesis, apart from designing new stream ciphers, we focus on analyzing popular nonlinear transformations (Boolean functions and S-boxes) used in block and stream ciphers for various cryptographic properties, in particular their resistance against algebraic attacks. The main contribution of this work is the design of two new stream ciphers and a thorough analysis of the algebraic immunity of Boolean functions and S-boxes based on power mappings. First we present WG, a family of new stream ciphers designed to obtain a keystream with guaranteed randomness properties. We show how to obtain a mathematical description of a WG stream cipher for the desired randomness properties and security level, and then how to translate this description into a practical hardware design. Next we describe the design of a new RC4-like stream cipher suitable for high speed software applications. The design is compared with original RC4 stream cipher for both security and speed. The second part of this thesis closely examines the algebraic immunity of Boolean functions and S-boxes based on power mappings. We derive meaningful upper bounds on the algebraic immunity of cryptographically significant Boolean power functions and show that for large input sizes these functions have very low algebraic immunity. To analyze the algebraic immunity of S-boxes based on power mappings, we focus on calculating the bi-affine and quadratic equations they satisfy. We present two very efficient algorithms for this purpose and give new S-box constructions that guarantee zero bi-affine and quadratic equations. We also examine these S-boxes for their resistance against linear and differential attacks and provide a list of S-boxes based on power mappings that offer high resistance against linear, differential, and algebraic attacks. Finally we investigate the algebraic structure of S-boxes used in AES and DES by deriving their equivalent algebraic descriptions

On Spectral Theory of Compatible Random Inflation Systems

Spindeler T. On Spectral Theory of Compatible Random Inflation Systems. Bielefeld: Universität Bielefeld; 2018

Topics on Register Synthesis Problems

Pseudo-random sequences are ubiquitous in modern electronics and information technology. High speed generators of such sequences play essential roles in various engineering applications, such as stream ciphers, radar systems, multiple access systems, and quasi-Monte-Carlo simulation. Given a short prefix of a sequence, it is undesirable to have an efficient algorithm that can synthesize a generator which can predict the whole sequence. Otherwise, a cryptanalytic attack can be launched against the system based on that given sequence. Linear feedback shift registers (LFSRs) are the most widely studied pseudorandom sequence generators. The LFSR synthesis problem can be solved by the Berlekamp-Massey algorithm, by constructing a system of linear equations, by the extended Euclidean algorithm, or by the continued fraction algorithm. It is shown that the linear complexity is an important security measure for pseudorandom sequences design. So we investigate lower bounds of the linear complexity of different kinds of pseudorandom sequences. Feedback with carry shift registers (FCSRs) were first described by Goresky and Klapper. They have many good algebraic properties similar to those of LFSRs. FCSRs are good candidates as building blocks of stream ciphers. The FCSR synthesis problem has been studied in many literatures but there are no FCSR synthesis algorithms for multi-sequences. Thus one of the main contributions of this dissertation is to adapt an interleaving technique to develop two algorithms to solve the FCSR synthesis problem for multi-sequences. Algebraic feedback shift registers (AFSRs) are generalizations of LFSRs and FCSRs. Based on a choice of an integral domain R and π ∈ R, an AFSR can produce sequences whose elements can be thought of elements of the quotient ring R/(π). A modification of the Berlekamp-Massey algorithm, Xu\u27s algorithm solves the synthesis problem for AFSRs over a pair (R, π) with certain algebraic properties. We propose two register synthesis algorithms for AFSR synthesis problem. One is an extension of lattice approximation approach but based on lattice basis reduction and the other one is based on the extended Euclidean algorithm

Complexity measures for classes of sequences and cryptographic apllications

Pseudo-random sequences are a crucial component of cryptography, particularly in stream cipher design. In this thesis we will investigate several measures of randomness for certain classes of finitely generated sequences. We will present a heuristic algorithm for calculating the k-error linear complexity of a general sequence, of either finite or infinite length, and results on the closeness of the approximation generated. We will present an linear time algorithm for determining the linear complexity of a sequence whose characteristic polynomial is a power of an irreducible element, again presenting variations for both finite and infinite sequences. This algorithm allows the linear complexity of such sequences to be determined faster than was previously possible. Finally we investigate the stability of m-sequences, in terms of both k-error linear complexity and k-error period. We show that such sequences are inherently stable, but show that some are more stable than others