EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH OF DIFFERENTIAL UNIFORMITY INFLUENCE ON RESISTANCE OF S-BOXES TO DIFFERENT TYPES OF CRYPTANALYSIS

Abstract

The impact of differential uniformity on the resistance of 4-bit S-blocks to different types of  cryptanalysis and the complexity of their generation for use in low-resource devices is investigated in this paper. A comparative analysis of the resistance of the generated blocks to differential, linear cryptanalysis and brute force attack is carried out on the example of the proposed experimental cipher. The relevance of this research topic is due to the rapid spread of low-resource devices, in particular Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and the need to ensure their information security.  The use of small and efficient cryptographic ciphers is critical for such devices.

As part of this study, a set of 4-bit S-blocks with different differential uniformity values was generated. To evaluate the cryptographic strength of these blocks, a simplified block cipher scheme based on SPN (substitution permutation network) was developed. A comparative analysis of the resistance of the generated S-blocks to differential, linear cryptanalysis and brute force was carried out by applying appropriate cryptographic methods to break the experimental cipher.

The analysis of the obtained experimental data is presented in the form of summary tables. The results of the study clearly demonstrate the dependence between the values of the differential uniformity of S-blocks and their ability to resist differential cryptanalysis. At the same time, it is shown that the differential uniformity does not affect the brute force cracking method. Comparison of the results of assessing the resistance to differential and linear cryptanalysis clearly illustrates the importance of an integrated approach to the design of S-blocks, taking into account all cryptographic properties, since optimizing only one cryptographic property does not guarantee high resistance to all types of cryptographic attacks.

The obtained experimental results are of great practical importance for the development of secure and efficient cryptographic ciphers that can be used in conditions of limited resources of IoT devices, as well as in systems that provide for the dynamic generation of lightweight S-blocks to increase cryptographic security and prevent some cryptographic attacks.