Stream cipherA stream cipher is a symmetric key cipher where plaintext digits are combined with a pseudorandom cipher digit stream (keystream). In a stream cipher, each plaintext digit is encrypted one at a time with the corresponding digit of the keystream, to give a digit of the ciphertext stream. Since encryption of each digit is dependent on the current state of the cipher, it is also known as state cipher. In practice, a digit is typically a bit and the combining operation is an exclusive-or (XOR).
Marginal distributionIn probability theory and statistics, the marginal distribution of a subset of a collection of random variables is the probability distribution of the variables contained in the subset. It gives the probabilities of various values of the variables in the subset without reference to the values of the other variables. This contrasts with a conditional distribution, which gives the probabilities contingent upon the values of the other variables. Marginal variables are those variables in the subset of variables being retained.
TwofishIn cryptography, Twofish is a symmetric key block cipher with a block size of 128 bits and key sizes up to 256 bits. It was one of the five finalists of the Advanced Encryption Standard contest, but it was not selected for standardization. Twofish is related to the earlier block cipher Blowfish. Twofish's distinctive features are the use of pre-computed key-dependent S-boxes, and a relatively complex key schedule. One half of an n-bit key is used as the actual encryption key and the other half of the n-bit key is used to modify the encryption algorithm (key-dependent S-boxes).
Adversary (cryptography)In cryptography, an adversary (rarely opponent, enemy) is a malicious entity whose aim is to prevent the users of the cryptosystem from achieving their goal (primarily privacy, integrity, and availability of data). An adversary's efforts might take the form of attempting to discover secret data, corrupting some of the data in the system, spoofing the identity of a message sender or receiver, or forcing system downtime. Actual adversaries, as opposed to idealized ones, are referred to as attackers.
Alice and BobAlice and Bob are fictional characters commonly used as placeholders in discussions about cryptographic systems and protocols, and in other science and engineering literature where there are several participants in a thought experiment. The Alice and Bob characters were invented by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir, and Leonard Adleman in their 1978 paper "A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public-key Cryptosystems". Subsequently, they have become common archetypes in many scientific and engineering fields, such as quantum cryptography, game theory and physics.
Skipjack (cipher)In cryptography, Skipjack is a block cipher—an algorithm for encryption—developed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA). Initially classified, it was originally intended for use in the controversial Clipper chip. Subsequently, the algorithm was declassified. Skipjack was proposed as the encryption algorithm in a US government-sponsored scheme of key escrow, and the cipher was provided for use in the Clipper chip, implemented in tamperproof hardware.
Mahalanobis distanceThe Mahalanobis distance is a measure of the distance between a point P and a distribution D, introduced by P. C. Mahalanobis in 1936. Mahalanobis's definition was prompted by the problem of identifying the similarities of skulls based on measurements in 1927. It is a multi-dimensional generalization of the idea of measuring how many standard deviations away P is from the mean of D. This distance is zero for P at the mean of D and grows as P moves away from the mean along each principal component axis.
P-adic numberIn number theory, given a prime number p, the p-adic numbers form an extension of the rational numbers which is distinct from the real numbers, though with some similar properties; p-adic numbers can be written in a form similar to (possibly infinite) decimals, but with digits based on a prime number p rather than ten, and extending (possibly infinitely) to the left rather than to the right.
Hellinger distanceIn probability and statistics, the Hellinger distance (closely related to, although different from, the Bhattacharyya distance) is used to quantify the similarity between two probability distributions. It is a type of f-divergence. The Hellinger distance is defined in terms of the Hellinger integral, which was introduced by Ernst Hellinger in 1909. It is sometimes called the Jeffreys distance. To define the Hellinger distance in terms of measure theory, let and denote two probability measures on a measure space that are absolutely continuous with respect to an auxiliary measure .
Pseudorandom permutationIn cryptography, a pseudorandom permutation (PRP) is a function that cannot be distinguished from a random permutation (that is, a permutation selected at random with uniform probability, from the family of all permutations on the function's domain) with practical effort. Let F be a mapping . F is a PRP if and only if For any , is a bijection from to , where . For any , there is an "efficient" algorithm to evaluate for any ,.