Ch 2.
Symmetric and Asymmetric key
Cryptography and key Management
By,
Prof. S. S. Tathare
Block cipher principles
● A symmetric-key modern block cipher encrypts an n-bit block of plaintext or
decrypts an n-bit block of ciphertext.
● The encryption or decryption algorithm uses a k-bit key.
● The decryption algorithm must be the inverse of the encryption algorithm,
and both operations must use the same secret key so that Bob can retrieve the
message sent by Alice.
● If the message has fewer than n bits, padding must be added to make it an n-
bit block; if the message has more than n bits, it should be divided into n-bit
blocks and the appropriate padding must be added to the last block if
necessary.
Block cipher modes of operation
● a mode of operation is a technique for enhancing the effect of a cryptographic
algorithm or adapting the algorithm for an application, such as applying a block cipher to
a sequence of data blocks or a data stream.
● The five modes are intended to cover a wide variety of applications of encryption for
which a block cipher could be used. These modes are intended for use with any
symmetric block cipher, including triple DES and AES.
Block cipher modes of operation: 1. Electronic Codebook (ECB)
● The simplest mode is the electronic codebook (ECB) mode, in
which plaintext is handled one block at a time and each block of
plaintext is encrypted using the same key
● The term codebook is used because, for a given key, there is a
unique ciphertext for every b-bit block of plaintext.
● Therefore, we can imagine a gigantic codebook in which there is an
entry for every possible b-bit plaintext pattern showing its
corresponding ciphertext.
Block cipher modes of operation: 1. Electronic Codebook (ECB)
● The most significant characteristic of ECB is that if the same b-bit
block of plaintext appears more than once in the message, it always
produces the same ciphertext.
● For lengthy messages, the ECB mode may not be secure.
● If the message is highly structured, it may be possible for a
cryptanalyst to exploit these regularities.
Block cipher modes of operation: 2. Cipher Block Chaining(CBC)
● To overcome the security deficiencies of ECB, we would like a
technique in which the same plaintext block, if repeated, produces
different ciphertext blocks.
● A simple way to satisfy this requirement is the cipher block chaining
(CBC) mode (Figure 6.4).
● In this scheme, the input to the encryption algorithm is the XOR of
the current plaintext block and the preceding ciphertext block; the
same key is used for each block.
● In effect, we have chained together the processing of the sequence
of plaintext blocks.
Block cipher modes of operation: 3. Cipher Feedback (CFB)
● However, it is possible to convert a block cipher into a stream
cipher, using one of the three modes to be discussed in this and the
next two sections: cipher feedback (CFB) mode, output feedback
(OFB) mode, and counter (CTR) mode.
● In this case, rather than blocks of bits, the plaintext is divided into
segments of bits.
Block cipher modes of operation: 3. Cipher Feedback (CFB)
● In addition, the contents of the shift register are shifted left by s
bits, and is placed in the rightmost (least significant) bits of the shift
register.
● This process continues until all plaintext units have been encrypted.
● For decryption, the same scheme is used, except that the received
ciphertext unit is XORed with the output of the encryption function
to produce the plaintext unit.
Block cipher modes of operation: 4. Output Feedback (OFB)
● The output feedback (OFB) mode is similar in structure to that of
CFB.
● It is the output of the encryption function that is fed back to the
shift register in OFB, whereas in CFB, the ciphertext unit is fed
back to the shift register.
● .
Block cipher modes of operation: 5. COUNTER
● A counter equal to the plaintext block size is used.
● The only requirement stated in SP 800-38A is that the counter value
must be different for each plaintext block that is encrypted.
● Typically, the counter is initialized to some value and then
incremented by 1 for each subsequent block
