Binary bi-braces and applications to cryptography

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Civino, Roberto, Fedele, Valerio
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866916205313392640
author Civino, Roberto
Fedele, Valerio
author_facet Civino, Roberto
Fedele, Valerio
contents In a XOR-based alternating block cipher the plaintext is masked by a sequence of layers each performing distinct actions: a highly nonlinear permutation, a linear transformation, and the bitwise key addition. When assessing resistance against classical differential attacks (where differences are computed with respect to XOR), the cryptanalysts must only take into account differential probabilities introduced by the nonlinear layer, this being the only one whose differential transitions are not deterministic. The temptation of computing differentials with respect to another difference operation runs into the difficulty of understanding how differentials propagate through the XOR-affine levels of the cipher. In this paper we introduce a special family of braces that enable the derivation of a set of differences whose interaction with every layer of an XOR-based alternating block cipher can be understood. We show that such braces can be described also in terms of alternating binary algebras of nilpotency class two. Additionally, we present a method to compute the automorphism group of these structures through an equivalence between bilinear maps. By doing so, we characterise the XOR-linear permutations for which the differential transitions with respect to the new difference are deterministic, facilitating an alternative differential attack.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2404_09315
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Binary bi-braces and applications to cryptography
Civino, Roberto
Fedele, Valerio
Group Theory
Cryptography and Security
Rings and Algebras
16T25, 08A35, 94A60
In a XOR-based alternating block cipher the plaintext is masked by a sequence of layers each performing distinct actions: a highly nonlinear permutation, a linear transformation, and the bitwise key addition. When assessing resistance against classical differential attacks (where differences are computed with respect to XOR), the cryptanalysts must only take into account differential probabilities introduced by the nonlinear layer, this being the only one whose differential transitions are not deterministic. The temptation of computing differentials with respect to another difference operation runs into the difficulty of understanding how differentials propagate through the XOR-affine levels of the cipher. In this paper we introduce a special family of braces that enable the derivation of a set of differences whose interaction with every layer of an XOR-based alternating block cipher can be understood. We show that such braces can be described also in terms of alternating binary algebras of nilpotency class two. Additionally, we present a method to compute the automorphism group of these structures through an equivalence between bilinear maps. By doing so, we characterise the XOR-linear permutations for which the differential transitions with respect to the new difference are deterministic, facilitating an alternative differential attack.
title Binary bi-braces and applications to cryptography
topic Group Theory
Cryptography and Security
Rings and Algebras
16T25, 08A35, 94A60
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.09315