CRYPTOGRAPHIC SECURITY ALGORITHMS: A Survey

Rabia Tehseen

F2017288003@umt.edu.pk

Abstract:
In the field of computing and communication the most challenging issues today is data
security over internet and networks. Attempts have been made to overcome insecurities
related to information sharing. In order to ensure security in data communication, many
algorithms have been designed and implemented. Cryptography is a technique to ensure data
security, integrity and confidentiality. Cryptography has been further divided into branches,
including symmetric key, public key and hash based cryptography. In this survey, we have
explored various algorithms devised for cryptography and enlisted the various types of
possible attacks to break the security of the information being shared.

Keywords: Cryptography; Symmetric Key; Public Key; Hash function; Cipher

Introduction

There are three different dimensions of cryptography, which are completely

independent from each other which include transforming plaintext into cipher text, number of
keys to be used and method of processing the plaintext. For the transformation of plaintext to
chipper text general principles of substitution (mapping each element in the plaintext into
another element) and Transposition (rearranging plaintext elements) are followed. The
fundamental rule of cryptography is that the information must not be lost. Security and
confidentiality of the data are maintained through keys. Cryptographic systems can share the
same key among the sender and receiver known as secret key or there might be there might
be different keys at both end known as public key. In order to process the plaintext the input
might be given as a single block at a time to generate one block of output or otherwise
continuous input can also be provided to generate output of one element at a time till the
stream of bits ends.

Symmetric Key cryptography Public key cryptography

Figure1: Simplified view of cryptography architecture (Image is taken from A2)

 We have conducted a survey of the security strategies and algorithms proposed
through various articles from last five years. To keep focused on our context, we have
carefully selected 23 articles for our survey. The rest of the paper would be structured as
Section -I would introduce the taxonomy of cryptography, the categorization and sub
categorization of our proposed taxonomy and article reference table. Detailed discussion of
all categories is carried out in Section II and Section III would conclude our paper and would
give future directions.

Section I: Categorization and Sub Categorization

In figure 2, three main categories have been identified in this survey paper, including
Symmetric key cryptography, Public key cryptography and hash function based
cryptography. In symmetric key cryptography same key is shared between the sender and the
receiver. Sender will encrypt the plaintext using this key to generate cipher text and at the
same time the receiver would use it for the decryption of the cipher text into plain text. We
have further subdivided Symmetric key cryptography category into Block cipher and stream
cipher. Block cipher takes a number of bits and encrypt it into cipher text as a block. Whereas
stream of continuous bits is encrypted in stream cipher that is then decoded by the receiver.
Table 1 describes the algorithms used for symmetric key cryptography.

Our next category is Public key cryptography which uses two related keys. These keys are
private key is a secret key used for decryption of the message at the receiver end, whereas the
public key is the key that is distributed by the sender while encrypting the message into
cipher text. There are many algorithms that have been used to ensure security in Public key
cryptography. Table 1 describes the most common algorithms for public key cryptography.

Third category of figure 2 is Hash Functions which do not use the key in the algorithm. Fixed
length hash code is generated through Hash function according to the plain text that makes it
impossible for the contents of the plain text to be recovered.

Table1:

Article Reference Table

Reference Table
Domain Algorithm Article Frequency Percentage
Symmetric Key CFB A1,A2,A3, 10 42%
Cryptography RCA
DES A4,A5,A6,
(Stream Cipher & Block TDES
Cipher) AES A7,A8,A9
IDEA
BLOWFISH A10,
RSA A11, A12,A13, 7 29%
Public Key Cryptography ELGANAL A14,A15, A18,
ELLIPTIC A24
CURVE

SHAO A16,A17,A19, 7 29%

Hash Based Cryptography RIPEMD A20,A21,A22,
MDS A23
the sponge
construction

Figure2: Taxonomy of Cryptography

SECTION II: DISCUSSION

SYMMETRIC KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY

In [1] encryption function is represented by E=K x M C and decryption function is
specified by DK=E1K. The author has prescribed the main security requirement of the
proposed mapping algorithm as a decryption function cannot be performed without knowing
the value of K. The author has tested the proposed mapping with Vermin’s one time pad ,
DES and AES. In [2], the author has surveyed traditional algorithms of cryptography. The
pros and cons of various algorithms from security perspective have been compared. In [3],
the researcher has explored that the security of classically secure symmetric key crypto
systems can be completely broken by the quantum chosen plain text attack. To retain the
classical security properties and basic structural features of the original scheme, the author
has suggested algebraic adaptation scheme. In [4] the author has proposed a content based
algorithm which follows the symmetric key cryptography method for better security over
internet and network. The proposed algorithm has implemented binary addition operation,
circular bit shifting operation and folding method. More attention has been given in making
the key secure. In [5], the author has presented a detailed comparison of different symmetric
key encryption techniques. Moreover the attacks to which these techniques are vulnerable to
are also described. In order to improve security in communication over the public computer
networks, in [6] the author has proposed a new symmetric key algorithm that was originally
based on genetic algorithm and back propagation neural network (EBP-NN). For enhancing
security GA was used for the encryption and EBP-NN was used for the decryption. In [7] a
new symmetric key cryptographic technique has been proposed that uses cellular automata
(CA). The suggested cryptosystem was implemented using C language. Transformations for
the encryption and decryption have been carried out on the basis of programmable cellular
automata. Security groups of cellular automata to be used for encryption and decryption of
the text have been formed under different configuration rules. In [9], the researcher has
provided a comparison of DES, AES and BLOWFISH algorithms and provided a simulation
program using the JAVA language. The author is more concerned about the performance of
these algorithms under various circumstances like different data loads, varying speed, data
size and key size. In [10] the author has analyzed the eight encryption algorithms for the
improvement of the symmetric key cipher algorithms. The researcher has introduced new
instruction set to support fast substitutions, general permutations, rotates and modular
arithmetic. Optimized cipher introduced through this research has shown overall performance
speedup which will lead to the development of high performance programmable
cryptographic processors.

PUBLIC KEY CRYPTOGRAPHY

In [8], the author has presented the latest developments and emerging trends for the
betterment of the security of public key cryptography technique. In [11], the author has
presented a comparison of RSA and elliptic curve cryptography algorithm. The researcher
has gauged the viability of public key cryptography on 8-bit energy constrained micro
controller. In [12] the author has specified the algorithms, algorithmic parameters, public key
formats, sizes and signatures for the secure communication with the subscriber of resource
public key infrastructure to generate digital signature certificate revocation list and
cryptographic messages syntax for the replying parties. In [13] the author has generated
several encryption schemes for secure communication based on ASASA structure ranging
from fast and generic symmetric cipher to compact public key and white-box constructions.
The author has explained the design process by showing various attacks on the weaker
variant of the scheme. In [14] the author has proposed a novel and secure data aggregation
protocol for wireless sensor networks. In order to provide effective and efficient end to end
security stateful public key encryption has been applied. The proposed scheme has been
implemented on TelosB and MicaZ sensor network platforms. Simulations have been
conducted in large scale scenarios to provide high security level with low overhead. In [15],
the author removes various insecurities from the internet the author has developed security
policies and has compared various traditional algorithms of cryptography. The researcher has
proposed an algorithm that has proved to be highly efficient for the secure data transmission
in the respective ground. In [18] the author has provided a comparison between symmetric
and asymmetric techniques in context of effectiveness, flexibility and security. The author
has proposed a model to achieve flawless cryptography over internet and networks.
HASH BASED CRYPTOGRAPHY

In [16], to improve security the author has introduced two new cryptographic
primitives.1) functional digital signature 2) functional pseudo random function. The author
has described the application of the function signature in the non-interactive arguments and
other delegation schemes to give selective access. A pseudo random function is used to
evaluate master secret key with an additional secret key. Pseudo random function has been
used to perform a prefix fixing function. In [17] the author has based his research on
homomorphism encryption scheme for preserving security in public key cryptography. The
researcher has investigated many asymmetric key algorithms like RSA, Megamall, algebraic
homomorphism encryption scheme based on Eldamal (AHEE) and non interactive
exponential homomorphic encryption scheme NEHE.

Figure 3: Hybrid Design of Cryptography (image taken from a20)

To enhance security, in [19] the author has proposed a novel image encryption algorithm
based on hybrid model of DNA masking, Hash algorithm SHA-2 and Loranz system. The
experimental results have shown improvement in encoding efficiency and better cipher text
security with large key space and high key sensitivity to resist against exhaustive and
statistical attacks. In [20] the author has discussed the problem of Radio frequency
identification system. To protect the access to the tag information, the author has proposed a
hash-based RFID – a tag mutual authentication protocol. The proposed protocol enforces
highest constraints on the attackers for acquiring the tag information. In [21] the author has
described the transition dependency of post quantum cryptography on quantum safe digital
signature scheme. With emphasis on security improvement and performance gain, the author
has analyzed state management using N-time hash based scheme for signatures. The
researcher has categorized the security issues arisen due to state synchronization failure. The
author has considered hybrid stateful /stateless scheme to protect the unintentional copying of
the private key state. Moreover, by increasing the cost of signature size the author has gained
the benefit of smaller signature and faster signing. In [22] the researcher has proposed a
reliable construction for the stateless hash based signatures. These constructions offer
security proofs relative to plausible properties of the hash function. The author has proposed
the fault diagnostic method for post quantum cryptography variants through various case
studies of hash function. The author has shown the working of the prescribed scheme by
presenting simulations and implementing output. Hash based constructions generated from
the scheme were more reliable against natural and malicious faults. In [23] the author has
proposed a reliable error detection hash tree for stateless hash based signatures offering
security proofs regarding plausible properties of hash functions for post quantum machines.
The proposed approach generates reliable schemes against natural faults and also helps
protect against malicious faults.

Table 2: Possible Cryptography attacks

Security Summary (Attacks)

Block Cipher Known plaintext attacks
Chosen-plaintext attacks
Differential cryptanalysis
Linear cryptanalysis
Stream Cipher Correlation attack
Correlation immunity

Public Key Cryptography Coppersmith’s attack

attacks Logjam
ROCA vulnerability
Wiener’s attack
Heap Based Cryptography Buffer overflow attack
attacks

Section III: Conclusion & Future Directions

In this survey paper, we have explored security constraints of various algorithms proposed for
symmetric key, public key and hash function cryptography. We have included 23 articles
which have been very carefully selected to keep focused from the last five years in our study.
We have developed taxonomy for the cryptography and explained various types of malicious
attacks to break security of cryptography. All the algorithms that have been proposed in the
articles studied in this survey have proved to be highly efficient in their respective grounds
but still there are many areas that are open and needs further research.

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