Zooming into chaos as a pathway for the creation of a fast, light and reliable cryptosystem

Acknowledgements J. M. acknowledges a scholarship from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq Grant #155957/2018-0) and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP #2020/03514-9). O. M. B. acknowledges support from CNPq (Grant #307897/2018-4) and FAPESP (Grant #16/18809-9).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

A dynamical systems approach to the discrimination of the modes of operation of cryptographic systems

Evidence of signatures associated with cryptographic modes of operation is established. Motivated by some analogies between cryptographic and dynamical systems, in particular with chaos theory, we propose an algorithm based on Lyapunov exponents of discrete dynamical systems to estimate the divergence among ciphertexts as the encryption algorithm is applied iteratively. The results allow to distinguish among six modes of operation, namely ECB, CBC, OFB, CFB, CTR and PCBC using DES, IDEA, TEA and XTEA block ciphers of 64 bits, as well as AES, RC6, Twofish, Seed, Serpent and Camellia block ciphers of 128 bits. Furthermore, the proposed methodology enables a classification of modes of operation of cryptographic systems according to their strength.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figure

Patterns and pseudo-randomness using complex systems

Neste trabalho demonstramos que padrões e aleatoriedade estão intimamente relacionados, ao contrário do que intuitivamente é considerado como campos opostos. Esta abordagem visa dois propósitos: por um lado, obter vantagens das propriedades caóticas para medir pseudo-aleatoriedade, e por outro lado, extrair padrões de diagramas espaço-tempo como método de reconhecimento de padrões. Este trabalho centrou-se em dois métodos relacionados com sistemas complexos, como sistemas dinâmicos de tempo discreto, redes complexas, autômatos celulares (AC) e suas combinações. O primeiro método foi explorar as propriedades das profundezas do caos como fonte de pseudo-aleatoriedade a partir de sistemas dinâmicos caóticos, como o mapa logístico e o mapa da tenda. Observamos que os padrões desaparecem e a pseudo-aleatoriedade é aumentada pela remoção de k dígitos à direita da vírgula dos pontos de uma órbita original de um mapa caótico. Portanto, foi encontrada uma fonte caótica interessante para obter geradores de números de pseudo-aleatórios (PRNGs) parametrizada por k. Um segundo método foi proposto com base na incorporação de autômatos celulares na topologia de rede, também chamada de rede-autômato, visando caracterizar as redes a partir da dinâmica espaço-temporal intrínseca dessas redes. Quatro problemas de grande demanda foram explorados, tais como (i) identificar redes sociais online; (ii) identificar organismos de diferentes domínios da vida através de suas redes metabólicas; (iii) classificar padrões de distribuição de estômatos variando de acordo com diferentes condições ambientais; e (iv) o problema de identificação de autoria. Finalmente, essa mesma abordagem foi utilizada para analisar as sequências de números pseudo-aleatórios gerados pelo padrão ouro do k-mapa logístico no contexto do reconhecimento de padrões. A abordagem proposta permitiu explorar padrões e pseudoaleatoriedade extraídos de uma miríade de sistemas com resultados bem-sucedidos em termos de acerto e boa pseudo-aleatoriedade. Além disso, este trabalho trouxe consigo progressos significativos em aplicações de reconhecimento de padrões do mundo real de um amplo ramo de campos como criptografia, criptoanálise, biologia e ciência dos dados.In this work, we demonstrate that patterns and randomness are close related, contrary to what intuitively is considered as opposite fields. We aimed for a pattern recognition approach that aims for two purposes: (i) to take advantages from the chaotic properties as a source of pseudo-randomness in order to measure pseudo-randomness and (ii) to extract patterns from spatio-temporal diagrams obtained from complex systems models as a pattern recognition method. This work has focused on different complex systems such as discrete dynamical systems, complex networks, cellular automata (CA), and their combinations. The first method was to explore the chaotic properties in a deep-zoom manner as a source of pseudo-randomness from chaotic dynamical systems such as the logistic map and the tent map. We observed that the patterns vanish and therefore pseudo-randomness is increased by removing k right digits from the original orbit sequences. Therefore, we found an interesting chaotic source to obtain pseudo-randomness number generators (PRNGs). A second method was proposed based on the embedding of cellular automata (CA) over a network topology, also called network automata, aiming to characterize networks from the intrinsic spatio-temporal dynamics of these networks. Various on-demand problems were explored such as (i) identifying online social networks; (ii) identifying organisms from distinct domains of life through their metabolic networks; (iii) classifying stomata distribution patterns varying according to different environmental conditions; and (iv) the authorship identification problem. Finally, this same approach was used to analyze the sequences of pseudo-random numbers generated by the gold standard k-logistic map in the context of pattern recognition. So far, the proposed pattern recognition approach based on non-linear systems allowed us to explored patterns and pseudo-randomness extracted from a myriad of systems with successful results in terms of accuracy and good pseudorandomness. The proposed method has made significant progress in real-world pattern recognition applications from a wide branch of fields such as Cryptography, Cryptanalysis, Biology and Data Science

Chaotic cellular automata applied to Cryptography and Cryptanalysis

A teoria do caos estuda o tipo de comportamento, aparentemente aleatório, que apresentam alguns sistemas complexos sensíveis à perturbação dos seus parâmetros, como por exemplo sistemas dinâmicos, fractais, autômatos celulares, entre outros. Os autômatos celulares (ACs) são sistemas dinâmicos discretos que podem apresentar comportamentos caóticos a partir de regras simples. Os ACs tem sido empregados em diversas aplicações principalmente em simulações, mas também tem contribuído no reconhecimento de padrões, processamento de imagens e na Criptografia. A necessidade em transmitir informação de forma mais segura vem crescendo com a necessidade por novos algoritmos criptográficos. Paralelamente, os criptoanalistas vem progredindo constantemente na quebra e na procura de vulnerabilidades destes algoritmos, sendo necessaria a incursão de novas abordagens para atender estes desafios. Neste trabalho é proposto o desenvolvimento e avaliação de algoritmos criptográficos, assim como um novo método de criptoanálise, motivados pela adequação dos ACs caóticos com os princípios de confusão e difusão da Criptografia, seguindo critérios apropriados para a boa construção destes algoritmos, que são sintetizados em três partes: (i) Na proposta do algoritmo de cifra criptográfico baseado no AC caótico, foi sugerida uma estratégia de seleção de ACs em base a combinação de vários critérios como o expoente de Lyapunov, a entropia e a distância de Hamming; visando selecionar um AC apropriado para a geração de números pseudo-aleatórios usados no processo de encriptação/decriptação do algoritmo, o qual é validado por diversos testes de aleatoriedade. (ii) Foi proposto o algoritmo de hash criptográfico baseado numa abordagem híbrida dos ACs e as redes complexas, visando a construção de um algoritmo flexível e de bom desempenho. Os resultados alcançados por ambos os algoritmos criptográficos mostraram-se relevantes quando comparados com o estado da arte, com boas qualidades de segurança e um grande potencial para ser aplicados em problemas reais. (iii) Na proposta do método de criptoanálise foi sugerido traçar equivalências entre os sistemas criptográficos e os ACs caóticos visando explorar e analisar seu comportamento dinâmico, por meio da adaptação do algoritmo do expoente de Lyapunov dos ACs, cujos resultados permitiram encontrar padrões característicos nos modos de operação criptográficos. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que a abordagem dos ACs caóticos para desenvolver os algoritmos pode ser bastante útil em aplicações de Criptografia e Criptoanálise.Chaos theory studies the apparently random behaviour from some complex systems with highly sensitive to the initial conditions, such as dynamical systems, fractals, cellular automata, among others. Cellular automata (CA) are discrete dynamical systems that may exhibit chaotic behaviour from simple rules. CA have been employed in many multidisciplinary applications, most of them in simulations systems, including pattern recognition, image processing and Cryptography. Nowadays, the development of new cryptographic algorithms is required in order to fulfil the increasing demand for secure transmission of confidential information. These algorithms are intensively analyzed, most of them broken by the cryptanalyst community. We proposed to develop two cryptographic algorithms: a block cipher and a hash function based on chaotic CA and its corresponding evaluation. We also proposed a new cryptanalysis methodology motivated by the strong relationship between the chaotic properties of CA and the cryptographic principles of confusion and diffusion, by following appropriate criteria to the proper design of these algorithms, which are summarized into three parts: (i) To proposed the block cipher proposed it was suggested a methodology to select a suitable CA to Cryptography by means of compounded measures such as the Lyapunov exponent, entropy and Hamming distance. Moreover, this selected CA is employed to generate pseudo-random numbers, which are further used in the encryption/decryption of the proposed block cipher and validated under several randomness tests. The results obtained by this cryptographic algorithm achieved similar and even higher performance when compared to others found in literature. (ii) The cryptographic hash function was developed using an hybrid approach of CA and complex networks, in order to build a flexible algorithm with acceptable performance when compared to conventional hash functions. In general, the results obtained from both cryptographic algorithms showed good security qualities and great potential to be applied in real problems. (iii) To proposed the cryptanalysis methodology it was suggested to draw parallels between cryptographic systems and CA, in order to explore and analise their dynamic behaviour. Hence, upon drawing such parallels, we have a means to adapt the Lyapunov exponent algorithm conceived in the framework of CA. Unexpectedly, the results obtained allow to discriminate among cryptographic modes of operation, which provides significant contributions to the field. Finally, we proved that the chaotic cellular automata approach can be quite useful in applications cryptography and cryptanalysis

Chaotic encryption method based on life-like cellular automata

A chaotic encryption algorithm is proposed based on the "Life-like" cellular automata (CA), which acts as a pseudo-random generator (PRNG). The paper main focus is to use chaos theory to cryptography. Thus, CA was explored to look for this "chaos" property. This way, the manuscript is more concerning on tests like: Lyapunov exponent, Entropy and Hamming distance to measure the chaos in CA, as well as statistic analysis like DIEHARD and ENT suites. Our results achieved higher randomness quality than others ciphers in literature. These results reinforce the supposition of a strong relationship between chaos and the randomness quality. Thus, the "chaos" property of CA is a good reason to be employed in cryptography, furthermore, for its simplicity, low cost of implementation and respectable encryption power. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.FAPESP (The State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation, Brazil) [2011/05461-0]FAPESP (The State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation, Brazil)National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), BrazilCNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, Brazil) [308449/2010-0, 473893/2010-0]FAPESP (The State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation)FAPESP (The State of Sao Paulo Research Foundation) [2011/01523-1

Metabolites found at the maximum core<i>k</i>_max.

<p>The columns indicate the plant acronyms, while the metabolites are shown as rows. The white cells indicate the presence of a metabolite in a particular plant <i>k</i>core, while black cells indicate its absence.</p

A hierarchical model of metabolic machinery based on the <i>k</i>core decomposition of plant metabolic networks

<div><p>Modeling the basic structure of metabolic machinery is a challenge for modern biology. Some models based on complex networks have provided important information regarding this machinery. In this paper, we constructed metabolic networks of 17 plants covering unicellular organisms to more complex dicotyledonous plants. The metabolic networks were built based on the substrate-product model and a topological percolation was performed using the <i>k</i>core decomposition. The distribution of metabolites across the percolation layers showed correlations between the metabolic integration hierarchy and the network topology. We show that metabolites concentrated in the internal network (maximum <i>k</i>core) only comprise molecules of the primary basal metabolism. Moreover, we found a high proportion of a set of common metabolites, among the 17 plants, centered at the inner <i>k</i>core layers. Meanwhile, the metabolites recognized as participants in the secondary metabolism of plants are concentrated in the outermost layers of the network. This data suggests that the metabolites in the central layer form a basic molecular module in which the whole plant metabolism is anchored. The elements from this central core participate in almost all plant metabolic reactions, which suggests that plant metabolic networks follows a centralized topology.</p></div