Cipher

About: Cipher is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 9409 publications have been published within this topic receiving 110309 citations. The topic is also known as: cypher & cryptographic algorithm.

Instant ciphertext-only cryptanalysis of GSM encrypted communication

Abstract: In this paper we present a very practical ciphertext-only cryptanalysis of GSM encrypted communication, and various active attacks on the GSM protocols. These attacks can even break into GSM networks that use unbreakable ciphers. We describe a ciphertext-only attack on A5/2 that requires a few dozen milliseconds of encrypted off-the-air cellular conversation and finds the correct key in less than a second on a personal computer. We then extend this attack to a (more complex) ciphertext-only attack on A5/1. We describe new attacks on the protocols of networks that use A5/1, A5/3, or even GPRS. These attacks are based on security flaws of the GSM protocols, and work whenever the mobile phone supports A5/2. We emphasize that these attacks are on the protocols, and are thus applicable whenever the cellular phone supports a weak cipher, for instance they are also applicable using the cryptanalysis of A5/1. Unlike previous attacks on GSM that require unrealistic information, like long known plaintext periods, our attacks are very practical and do not require any knowledge of the content of the conversation. These attacks allow attackers to tap conversations and decrypt them either in real-time, or at any later time. We also show active attacks, such as call hijacking, altering of data messages and call theft.

On the Construction of Block Ciphers Provably Secure and Not Relying on Any Unproved Hypotheses

Abstract: One of the ultimate goals of cryptography researchers is to construct a (secrete-key) block cipher which has the following ideal properties: (1) The cipher is provably secure, (2) Security of the cipher does not depend on any unproved hypotheses, (3) The cipher can be easily implemented with current technology, and (4) All design criteria for the cipher are made public. It is currently unclear whether or not there really exists such an ideal block cipher. So to meet the requirements of practical applications, the best thing we can do is to construct a block cipher such thai it approximates the ideal one as closely as possible. In this paper, we make a significant step in this direction. In particular, we construct several block ciphers each of which has the above mentioned properties (2), (3) and (4) as well as the following one: (1’) Security of the cipher is supported by convincing evidence. Our construction builds upon profound mathematical bases for information security recently established in a series of excellent papers.

A tutorial on linear and differential cryptanalysis

Abstract: In this paper, we present a detailed tutorial on linear cryptanalysis and differential cryptanalysis, the two most significant attacks applicable to symmetric-key block ciphers. The intent of the paper is to present a lucid explanation of the attacks, detailing the practical application of the attacks to a cipher in a simple, conceptually revealing manner for the novice cryptanalyst. The tutorial is based on the analysis of a simple, yet realistically structured, basic Substitution-Permutation Network cipher. Understanding the attacks as they apply to this structure is useful, as the Rijndael cipher, recently selected for the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), has been derived from the basic SPN architecture. As well, experimental data from the attacks is presented as confirmation of the applicability of the concepts as outlined.