A new approach to block cipher design

Abstract

In this paper we apply the cryptographic finite state machine approach as introduced in [1] to the design of symmetric key block ciphers. Key words in the design approach are simplicity, uniformity, parallelism, distributed nonlinearity and high diffusion. 3-Way is a block cipher with a block and key length of 96 bits. Key components in the construction of 3-Way are a 3-bit nonlinear S-box and a linear mapping that can be described by modular polynomial multiplication in ℤ 122 . The arrangement of the components allows software implementations in the range of 10 Mbit/s on a modern PC and dedicated hardware implementations above 1 Gbit/s using standard technology (1.2μ CMOS). The cipher structure of 3-Way is shown to be surprisingly strong with respect to both linear and differential cryptanalysis.KeywordsFinite State MachineBlock CipherLinear Feedback Shift RegisterRound FunctionLinear CryptanalysisThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.