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Chaotic cellular automata applied to Cryptography and Cryptanalysis

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Author(s):
Marina Jeaneth Machicao Justo
Total Authors: 1
Document type: Master's Dissertation
Press: São Carlos.
Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Instituto de Física de São Carlos (IFSC/BT)
Defense date:
Examining board members:
Odemir Martinez Bruno; Alexandre Cláudio Botazzo Delbem; Jorge Stolfi
Advisor: Odemir Martinez Bruno
Abstract

Chaos theory studies the apparently random behaviour from some complex systems with highly sensitive to the initial conditions, such as dynamical systems, fractals, cellular automata, among others. Cellular automata (CA) are discrete dynamical systems that may exhibit chaotic behaviour from simple rules. CA have been employed in many multidisciplinary applications, most of them in simulations systems, including pattern recognition, image processing and Cryptography. Nowadays, the development of new cryptographic algorithms is required in order to fulfil the increasing demand for secure transmission of confidential information. These algorithms are intensively analyzed, most of them broken by the cryptanalyst community. We proposed to develop two cryptographic algorithms: a block cipher and a hash function based on chaotic CA and its corresponding evaluation. We also proposed a new cryptanalysis methodology motivated by the strong relationship between the chaotic properties of CA and the cryptographic principles of confusion and diffusion, by following appropriate criteria to the proper design of these algorithms, which are summarized into three parts: (i) To proposed the block cipher proposed it was suggested a methodology to select a suitable CA to Cryptography by means of compounded measures such as the Lyapunov exponent, entropy and Hamming distance. Moreover, this selected CA is employed to generate pseudo-random numbers, which are further used in the encryption/decryption of the proposed block cipher and validated under several randomness tests. The results obtained by this cryptographic algorithm achieved similar and even higher performance when compared to others found in literature. (ii) The cryptographic hash function was developed using an hybrid approach of CA and complex networks, in order to build a flexible algorithm with acceptable performance when compared to conventional hash functions. In general, the results obtained from both cryptographic algorithms showed good security qualities and great potential to be applied in real problems. (iii) To proposed the cryptanalysis methodology it was suggested to draw parallels between cryptographic systems and CA, in order to explore and analise their dynamic behaviour. Hence, upon drawing such parallels, we have a means to adapt the Lyapunov exponent algorithm conceived in the framework of CA. Unexpectedly, the results obtained allow to discriminate among cryptographic modes of operation, which provides significant contributions to the field. Finally, we proved that the chaotic cellular automata approach can be quite useful in applications cryptography and cryptanalysis. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 11/05461-0 - Cellular automata and complex network and its applications to pattern recognition and cryptography
Grantee:Marina Jeaneth Machicao Justo
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master