Re: Good overview paper of cryptanalysis techniques

From: jealous xmp (jealousxmp_at_aol.commonplace)
Date: 03/14/04 

Date: 14 Mar 2004 02:04:24 GMT

>Could someone point me to one or more overview papers that describe
>the current knowledge about cryptanalysis techniques?
>

You might look at Schneier's (sp?) site. He wrote Applied Cryptography which
is a good overview. It does not go into depth, but hopefully would give
references to papers.

>I have written application software that does encryption of static
>data using openssl and Java crypto libraries using standard techniques
>like symmetric key encryption (AES/3DES in CBC mode) with public key
>wrapping of the symmetric keys.
>
>But, I have not thought through the entire range of attacks possible
>on such data encrypted over long periods of time. So, I am not looking
>for research topics to explore further, but would like to understand
>what is possible.
>
>Here are the issues I am worrying about:
>-- the attacks possible on the data given knowledge of the public key
>(techniques like NFS and perhaps newer ones?). How long is the data
>safe from decryption?

Number field sieve?

>-- the attacks possible on ciphertext without knowledge of the public
>or symmetric keys. And, the possible attacks when the attacker has
>some knowledge of the structure of the plaintext. How much knowledge
>is needed? How does increased knowledge of the plaintext increase the
>success of attacks?
>I have read some papers on chosen plaintext attacks, but they have an
>assumption of a decryption oracle that can be queried. What if such a
>decryption oracle is not present, i.e. I destroyed all keys (say I
>ground the smart card to dust) ? What are the attacks remaining?

Known plaintext, MITM, brute force, etc.

How
>long would it take to determine the plaintext given current processing
>power?
>
>Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to give you a flavor of the
>problem as I was visualizing it. Please feel free to add more things
>to consider.
>
>And, as I mentioned in the beginning, any good overview papers that
>will get me started, will be highly appreciated.

Well "Applied Cryptography" gives some calculations on some ciphers. This
might aid you in running some numbers of your own. You are assuming a lot of
things though, computing power of the adversary, lack of backdoors in the algo,
current state of math theory, private / military vs public techniques, etc.

Michael

Relevant Pages

  • call for papers - ICDE 2007
    ... CALL FOR PAPERS ... Panel proposals must include an abstract, ... databases or new techniques. ... Wynne Hsu, National University of Singapore, Singapore ...
    (comp.databases)
  • [PEPM 09] Preliminary CFP
    ... Partial Evaluation and Program Manipulation ... and practical implementation techniques such as ... Analysis and transformation for programs/models with advanced ... We especially encourage papers that break new ground including ...
    (comp.lang.prolog)
  • 3rd CFP - Deadline Extension: Workshop on Invariant Generation (WING 2009), York, UK, 22-23
    ... Third and Last Call for Papers, Deadline Extension ... Program verification has a long research tradition, ... narrowing/widening techniques, static analysis, polynomial ...
    (comp.specification.z)
  • SPIN 2008: Final Call for Papers
    ... Final Call for Papers: SPIN 2008 ... SPIN Workshop on Model Checking of Software ... Theoretical techniques and empirical ... Techniques for dealing with infinite state spaces ...
    (comp.specification.z)
  • CFP: 5th Workshop on Model Checking and AI
    ... Application of model checking techniques to AI problems. ... Model Checking and AI logics. ... Preliminary papers and papers on applications are strongly encouraged. ... Notes in Computer Science" styles, and must be no more than 15 pages ...
    (comp.specification.z)