Cryptanalysis | EPFL Graph Search

Cryptanalysis (from the Greek kryptós, "hidden", and analýein, "to analyze") refers to the process of analyzing information systems in order to understand hidden aspects of the systems. Cryptanalysis is used to breach cryptographic security systems and gain access to the contents of encrypted messages, even if the cryptographic key is unknown. In addition to mathematical analysis of cryptographic algorithms, cryptanalysis includes the study of side-channel attacks that do not target weaknesses in the cryptographic algorithms themselves, but instead exploit weaknesses in their implementation. Even though the goal has been the same, the methods and techniques of cryptanalysis have changed drastically through the history of cryptography, adapting to increasing cryptographic complexity, ranging from the pen-and-paper methods of the past, through machines like the British Bombes and Colossus computers at Bletchley Park in World War II, to the mathematically advanced computerized schemes of the present. Methods for breaking modern cryptosystems often involve solving carefully constructed problems in pure mathematics, the best-known being integer factorization. In encryption, confidential information (called the "plaintext") is sent securely to a recipient by the sender first converting it into an unreadable form ("ciphertext") using an encryption algorithm. The ciphertext is sent through an insecure channel to the recipient. The recipient decrypts the ciphertext by applying an inverse decryption algorithm, recovering the plaintext. To decrypt the ciphertext, the recipient requires a secret knowledge from the sender, usually a string of letters, numbers, or bits, called a cryptographic key. The concept is that even if an unauthorized person gets access to the ciphertext during transmission, without the secret key they cannot convert it back to plaintext. Encryption has been used throughout history to send important military, diplomatic and commercial messages, and today is very widely used in computer networking to protect email and internet communication.

Misuse Attacks on Post-quantum Cryptosystems

Serge Vaudenay, Loïs Evan Huguenin-Dumittan, Abdullah Talayhan, Fatma Betül Durak, Ciprian Baetu

Many post-quantum cryptosystems which have been proposed in the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NISI) standardization process follow the same meta-algorithm, but in different algebras or different encoding methods. They usually propose two constructions, one being weaker and the other requiring a random oracle. We focus on the weak version of nine submissions to NISI. Submitters claim no security when the secret key is used several times. In this paper, we analyze how easy it is to run a key recovery under multiple key reuse. We mount a classical key recovery under plaintext checking attacks (i.e., with a plaintext checking oracle saying if a given ciphertext decrypts well to a given plaintext) and a quantum key recovery under chosen ciphertext attacks. In the latter case, we assume quantum access to the decryption oracle.

SPRINGER INTERNATIONAL PUBLISHING AG2019

Computational Aspects of Jacobians of Hyperelliptic Curves

Alina Dudeanu

Nowadays, one area of research in cryptanalysis is solving the Discrete Logarithm Problem (DLP) in finite groups whose group representation is not yet exploited. For such groups, the best one can do is using a generic method to attack the DLP, the fastest of which remains the Pollard rho algorithm with

r

-adding walks. For the first time, we rigorously analyze the Pollard rho method with

r

-adding walks and prove a complexity bound that differs from the birthday bound observed in practice by a relatively small factor. There exist a multitude of open questions in genus

2

cryptography. In this case, the DLP is defined in large prime order subgroups of rational points that are situated on the Jacobian of a genus~

2

curve defined over a large characteristic finite field. We focus on one main topic, namely we present a new efficient algorithm for computing cyclic isogenies between Jacobians. Comparing to previous work that computes non cyclic isogenies in genus~

2

, we need to restrict to certain cases of polarized abelian varieties with specific complex multiplication and real multiplication. The algorithm has multiple applications related to the structure of the isogeny graph in genus~

2

, including random self-reducibility of DLP. It helps support the widespread intuition of choosing \emph{any} curve in a class of curves that satisfy certain public and well studied security parameters. Another topic of interest is generating hyperelliptic curves for cryptographic applications via the CM method that is based on the numerical estimation of the rational Igusa class polynomials. A recent development relates the denominators of the Igusa class polynomials to counting ideal classes in non maximal real quadratic orders whose norm is not prime to the conductor. Besides counting, our new algorithm provides precise representations of such ideal classes for all real quadratic fields and is part of an implementation in Magma of the recent theoretic work in the literature on the topic of denominators.

EPFL2016

Cryptographic Hash Functions in Groups and Provable Properties

Juraj Sarinay

We consider several "provably secure" hash functions that compute simple sums in a well chosen group (G,*). Security properties of such functions provably translate in a natural way to computational problems in G that are simple to define and possibly also hard to solve. Given k disjoint lists Li of group elements, the k-sum problem asks for gi ∊ Li such that g1 * g2 ... gk = 1G. Hardness of the problem in the respective groups follows from some "standard" assumptions used in public-key cryptology such as hardness of integer factoring, discrete logarithms, lattice reduction and syndrome decoding. We point out evidence that the k-sum problem may even be harder than the above problems. Two hash functions based on the group k-sum problem, SWIFFTX and FSB, were submitted to NIST as candidates for the future SHA-3 standard. Both submissions were supported by some sort of a security proof. We show that the assessment of security levels provided in the proposals is not related to the proofs included. The main claims on security are supported exclusively by considerations about available attacks. By introducing "second-order" bounds on bounds on security, we expose the limits of such an approach to provable security. A problem with the way security is quantified does not necessarily mean a problem with security itself. Although FSB does have a history of failures, recent versions of the two above functions have resisted cryptanalytic efforts well. This evidence, as well as the several connections to more standard problems, suggests that the k-sum problem in some groups may be considered hard on its own, and possibly lead to provable bounds on security. Complexity of the non-trivial tree algorithm is becoming a standard tool for measuring the associated hardness. We propose modifications to the multiplicative Very Smooth Hash and derive security from multiplicative k-sums in contrast to the original reductions that related to factoring or discrete logarithms. Although the original reductions remain valid, we measure security in a new, more aggressive way. This allows us to relax the parameters and hash faster. We obtain a function that is only three times slower compared to SHA-256 and is estimated to offer at least equivalent collision resistance. The speed can be doubled by the use of a special modulus, such a modified function is supported exclusively by the hardness of multiplicative k-sums modulo a power of two. Our efforts culminate in a new multiplicative k-sum function in finite fields that further generalizes the design of Very Smooth Hash. In contrast to the previous variants, the memory requirements of the new function are negligible. The fastest instance of the function expected to offer 128-bit collision resistance runs at 24 cycles per byte on an Intel Core i7 processor and approaches the 17.4 figure of SHA-256. The new functions proposed in this thesis do not provably achieve a usual security property such as preimage or collision resistance from a well-established assumption. They do however enjoy unconditional provable separation of inputs that collide. Changes in input that are small with respect to a well defined measure never lead to identical output in the compression function.

EPFL2011