<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> The Australian stream cipher NLSv2 [Hawkes, P.-Paddon, M.-Rose, G. G.-De Vries, M. W.: Primitive specification for NLSv2, Project eSTREAM web page, 2007, 1-25] is a 32-bit word oriented stream cipher that was quite successful in the stream ciphers competition-the project eSTREAM. The cipher achieved Phase 3 and successfully accomplished one of the main requirements for candidates in Profile 1 (software oriented proposals)-to have a better performance than AES in counter mode. However the cipher was not chosen into the final portfolio [Babbage, S.-De Canni`ere, Ch.-Canteaut, A.-Cid, C.-Gilbert, H.-Johansson, T.-Parker, M.-Preneel, B.-Rijmen, V.-Robshaw, M.: The eSTREAM Portfolio, Project eSTREAM web page, 2008], because its performance was not so perfect when comparing with other finalist. Also there is a security issue with a high correlation in the used S-Box, which some effective distinguishers exploit. In this paper, a practical demonstration of the distinguishing attack against the smaller version of the cipher is introduced. In our experiments, we have at disposal a machine with four cores (Intel® CoreTM Quad @ 2.66 GHz) and single attack lasts about 6 days. We performed successful practical experiments and our results demonstrate that the distingushing attack against the smaller version is working.</abstract>

The Australian stream cipher NLSv2 [Hawkes, P.-Paddon, M.-Rose, G. G.-De Vries, M. W.: Primitive specification for NLSv2, Project eSTREAM web page, 2007, 1-25] is a 32-bit word oriented stream cipher that was quite successful in the stream ciphers competition-the project eSTREAM. The cipher achieved Phase 3 and successfully accomplished one of the main requirements for candidates in Profile 1 (software oriented proposals)-to have a better performance than AES in counter mode. However the cipher was not chosen into the final portfolio [Babbage, S.-De Canni`ere, Ch.-Canteaut, A.-Cid, C.-Gilbert, H.-Johansson, T.-Parker, M.-Preneel, B.-Rijmen, V.-Robshaw, M.: The eSTREAM Portfolio, Project eSTREAM web page, 2008], because its performance was not so perfect when comparing with other finalist. Also there is a security issue with a high correlation in the used S-Box, which some effective distinguishers exploit. In this paper, a practical demonstration of the distinguishing attack against the smaller version of the cipher is introduced. In our experiments, we have at disposal a machine with four cores (Intel® CoreTM Quad @ 2.66 GHz) and single attack lasts about 6 days. We performed successful practical experiments and our results demonstrate that the distingushing attack against the smaller version is working.

On Distinguishing Attack Against the Reduced Version of the Cipher Nlsv2

Institute of Computer Science and Mathematics, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Slovak University of Technology, Ilkovičova 3, SK–812-19 Bratislava, SLOVAKIA

Tatra Mountains Mathematical Publications

{"article-title":"On Distinguishing Attack Against the Reduced Version of the Cipher Nlsv2"}

The Australian stream cipher NLSv2 [Hawkes, P.-Paddon, M.-Rose, G. G.-De Vries, M. W.: Primitive specification for NLSv2, Project eSTREAM web page, 2007, 1-25]...

On Distinguishing Attack Against the Reduced Version of the Cipher Nlsv2

Published Online: Feb 01, 2013

Page range: 21 - 32

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10127-012-0037-5

Keywords
distinguish, stream cipher, attack, nonlinear, algorithm

This content is open access.

On Distinguishing Attack Against the Reduced Version of the Cipher Nlsv2

Published Online: Feb 01, 2013

Page range: 21 - 32

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/v10127-012-0037-5

Keywordsdistinguish, stream cipher, attack, nonlinear, algorithm

This content is open access.

Keywords
distinguish, stream cipher, attack, nonlinear, algorithm