Differential-linear attack

Introduced by Martin Hellman and Susan K. Langford in 1994, the differential-linear attack is a mix of both linear cryptanalysis and differential cryptanalysis. The attack utilises a differential characteristic over part of the cipher with a probability of 1 (for a few rounds—this probability would be much lower for the whole cipher). The rounds immediately following the differential characteristic have a linear approximation defined, and we expect that for each chosen plaintext pair, the probability of the linear approximation holding for one chosen plaintext but not the other will be lower for the correct key. Hellman and Langford have shown that this attack can recover 10 key bits of an 8-round DES with only 512 chosen plaintexts and an 80% chance of success. The attack was generalised by Eli Biham et al. to use differential characteristics with probability less than 1. Besides DES, it has been applied to FEAL, IDEA, Serpent, Camellia, and even the stream cipher Phelix.

Introduced by Martin Hellman and Susan K. Langford in 1994, the differential-linear attack is a mix of both linear cryptanalysis and differential cryptanalysis.

The attack utilises a differential characteristic over part of the cipher with a probability of 1 (for a few rounds—this probability would be much lower for the whole cipher). The rounds immediately following the differential characteristic have a linear approximation defined, and we expect that for each chosen plaintext pair, the probability of the linear approximation holding for one chosen plaintext but not the other will be lower for the correct key. Hellman and Langford have shown that this attack can recover 10 key bits of an 8-round DES with only 512 chosen plaintexts and an 80% chance of success.

The attack was generalised by Eli Biham et al. to use differential characteristics with probability less than 1. Besides DES, it has been applied to FEAL, IDEA, Serpent, Camellia, and even the stream cipher Phelix.

References

[edit]

Johan Borst (February 1997). "Differential-Linear Cryptanalysis of IDEA". CiteSeerX 10.1.1.49.5084. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Johan Borst, Lars R. Knudsen, Vincent Rijmen (May 1997). Two Attacks on Reduced IDEA (PDF). Advances in Cryptology – EUROCRYPT '97. Konstanz: Springer-Verlag. pp. 1–13. Retrieved 2007-03-08.{{cite conference}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Eli Biham; Orr Dunkelman; Nathan Keller (December 2002). Enhancing Differential-Linear Cryptanalysis (PDF/gzipped PostScript). Advances in Cryptology, proceeding of ASIACRYPT 2002, Lecture Notes in Computer Science 2501. Queenstown, New Zealand: Springer-Verlag. pp. 254–266. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
Eli Biham, Orr Dunkelman, Nathan Keller (February 2003). Differential-Linear Cryptanalysis of Serpent (PDF/PostScript). 10th International Workshop on Fast Software Encryption (FSE '03). Lund: Springer-Verlag. pp. 9–21. Retrieved 2007-03-08.{{cite conference}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Hongjun Wu, Bart Preneel (December 12, 2006). Differential-Linear Attacks against the Stream Cipher Phelix (PDF). 14th International Workshop on Fast Software Encryption (FSE '07). Luxembourg City: Springer-Verlag. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2007-03-08.
Eli Biham, Orr Dunkelman, Nathan Keller (December 12, 2006). A New Attack on 6-round IDEA. 14th International Workshop on Fast Software Encryption (FSE '07). Luxembourg City: Springer-Verlag.{{cite conference}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

v t e Block ciphers (security summary)
Common algorithms	AES Blowfish DES (internal mechanics, Triple DES) Serpent SM4 Twofish
Less common algorithms	ARIA Camellia CAST-128 GOST IDEA LEA RC5 RC6 SEED Skipjack TEA XTEA
Other algorithms	3-Way Adiantum Akelarre Anubis Ascon BaseKing BassOmatic BATON BEAR and LION CAST-256 Chiasmus CIKS-1 CIPHERUNICORN-A CIPHERUNICORN-E CLEFIA CMEA Cobra COCONUT98 Crab Cryptomeria/C2 CRYPTON CS-Cipher DEAL DES-X DFC E2 FEAL FEA-M FROG G-DES Grand Cru Hasty Pudding cipher Hierocrypt ICE IDEA NXT Intel Cascade Cipher Iraqi Kalyna KASUMI KeeLoq KHAZAD Khufu and Khafre KN-Cipher Kuznyechik Ladder-DES LOKI (97, 89/91) Lucifer M6 M8 MacGuffin Madryga MAGENTA MARS Mercy MESH MISTY1 MMB MULTI2 MultiSwap New Data Seal NewDES Nimbus NOEKEON NUSH PRESENT Prince Q QARMA RC2 REDOC Red Pike S-1 SAFER SAVILLE SC2000 SHACAL SHARK Simon Speck Spectr-H64 Square SXAL/MBAL Threefish Treyfer UES xmx XXTEA Zodiac
Design	Feistel network Key schedule Lai–Massey scheme Product cipher S-box P-box SPN Confusion and diffusion Round Avalanche effect Block size Key size Key whitening (Whitening transformation)
Attack (cryptanalysis)	Brute-force (EFF DES cracker) MITM Biclique attack 3-subset MITM attack Linear (Piling-up lemma) Differential Impossible Truncated Higher-order Differential-linear Distinguishing (Known-key) Integral/Square Boomerang Mod n Related-key Slide Rotational Side-channel Timing Power-monitoring Electromagnetic Acoustic Differential-fault XSL Interpolation Partitioning Rubber-hose Black-bag Davies Rebound Weak key Tau Chi-square Time/memory/data tradeoff
Standardization	AES process CRYPTREC NESSIE NSA Suite B CNSA
Utilization	Initialization vector Mode of operation Padding

v t e Cryptography
General	History of cryptography Outline of cryptography Classical cipher Cryptographic protocol Authentication protocol Cryptographic primitive Cryptanalysis Cryptocurrency Cryptosystem Cryptographic nonce Cryptovirology Hash function Cryptographic hash function Key derivation function Secure Hash Algorithms Digital signature Kleptography Key (cryptography) Key exchange Key generator Key schedule Key stretching Keygen Machines Ransomware Random number generation Cryptographically secure pseudorandom number generator (CSPRNG) Pseudorandom noise (PRN) Secure channel Insecure channel Subliminal channel Encryption Decryption End-to-end encryption Harvest now, decrypt later Information-theoretic security Plaintext Codetext Ciphertext Shared secret Trapdoor function Trusted timestamping Key-based routing Onion routing Garlic routing Kademlia Mix network
Mathematics	Cryptographic hash function Block cipher Stream cipher Symmetric-key algorithm Authenticated encryption Public-key cryptography Quantum key distribution Quantum cryptography Post-quantum cryptography Message authentication code Random numbers Steganography
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