Security analysis of mCrypton proper to low‐cost ubiquitous computing devices and applications

Abstract

AbstractmCrypton, which is a mini‐version of Crypton, is a 64‐bit block cipher with three key size options (64 bits, 96 bits, 128 bits). It was designed for use in low‐cost ubiquitous wireless devices and resource‐constrained tiny devices such as low‐cost Radio‐Frequency Identification tags and sensors in Ubiquitous Sensor Network. In this paper we show that 8‐round mCrypton with 128‐bit key is vulnerable to related‐key rectangle attack. We first describe how to construct two related‐key truncated differentials on which 7‐round related‐key rectangle distinguisher is based and then we exploit it to attack 8‐round mCrypton. This attack requires 246 dada and 246 time complexities, which is faster than exhaustive search. This is the first known cryptanalytic result on mCrypton. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.