A Statistical Analysis of Some Standard Ciphers' Cryptographic Primitives
Abstract
Encryption is ubiquitous in the modern environment. While public/private key architecture has providedan amazing and powerful way to encrypt information so that only one intended recipient can decrypt, thecomputation required for this approach means that this encryption method can quickly grow extremelyexpensive. With that in mind, there are a variety of open-source stream ciphers that seek to providerelatively inexpensive stream ciphers to securely encrypt information. But these stream ciphers all operateusing very different techniques to generate their keystream, as seen in the stark differences in paradigmsbetween ciphers. As such, it is not immediately clear what operations are required to achieve the desiredlevel of encryption. What cryptographic primitives are most common or efficacious in achieving security?Examining the Data Encryption Standard, Advanced Encryption Standard, and the stream cipher winners ofthe eStream II competition, an underlying trend composed of two operations emerges. Despite observing noclear n-grams defining precise cryptographic primitives, we identify a general structure common to allstream ciphers. Additionally, we identify that substitution boxes or multiplication operations are notnecessary for stream ciphers, whereas addition and rotation operations seem to be essential.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 2021
- Accession Number
- AD1151238
Entities
People
- Devon Zillmer
Organizations
- Naval Postgraduate School