Department of Computer Science

COMP40451 Cyber Security

Lecture 7
Cryptography (3)

Dr Xiaoqi Ma
Outline
1 Data encryption standard

2 Asymmetric encryption

3 Summary
Data Encryption Standard
 DES is a block cipher, working on blocks of 64 bits
 DES has been accepted as an international standard by
ISO
 The key consists of 64 bits; however, only 56 of these are
actually used by the algorithm. Eight bits are used solely
for checking parity, and are thereafter discarded. Hence
the effective key length is 56 bits
How DES Works (1)
How DES Works (2)
How DES Works (3)
Initial Permutation
Key Schedule Calculation
Calculation of f(R,K)
Security of DES Algorithm
 DES is now considered to be insecure for many applications, chiefly due to the 56-bit key
being too small
 In June 1997, Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) broke a DES key in 56 hours
 In January 1998, a DES key was broken in 22 hours and 15 minutes
 In recent years, the cipher has been superseded by the Advanced Encryption Standard
(AES), which is more secure
Asymmetric Encryption
 Asymmetric encryption, or public key encryption, uses asymmetric key algorithms
 Asymmetric: the key used to encrypt a message is not the same as the key used to
decrypt it
 Asymmetric encryption does not require a secure initial exchange of one or more secret
keys as is required when using symmetric key algorithms
 One of the most widely used asymmetric encryption algorithms is RSA
How Asymmetric Encryption Works
 Each user has a pair of cryptographic keys – a public key and a private key
 The private key is kept secret, while the public key may be widely distributed
 Messages are encrypted with the recipient’s public key and can only be decrypted with
the corresponding private key
 The public and private keys are related mathematically, but the private key cannot be
feasibly derived from the public key
Asymmetric Encryption: An Analogy
 An analogy to public key encryption is that of a locked
mailbox with a mail slot
 The mail slot is exposed and accessible to the public; its
location (the street address) is in essence the public key
 Anyone knowing the street address can go to the door and
drop a written message through the slot
 However, only the person who possesses the key can open the
mailbox and read the message
Asymmetric Encryption: An Diagram
Security of Asymmetric Encryption
 Theoretically, no public key scheme is absolutely secure. All public key schemes are
susceptible to brute force key search attack
 In practice, these insecurities can be generally avoided by choosing key sizes large
enough that the best known attack would take so long that it is not worth any adversary’s
time and money to break the code
 Typically, the key size needed is much longer for public key algorithms than for
symmetric key algorithms
Symmetric vs. Asymmetric
 Speed
 In practice, asymmetric key algorithms are typically hundreds to thousands times slower than
symmetric key algorithms
 Key management
 One disadvantage of symmetric key algorithms is the requirement of a shared secret key, with one
copy at each end
 Hybrid cryptosystem
 In modern cryptosystems design, both asymmetric and symmetric algorithms are used to take
advantage of the virtues of both
Summary
1 Data encryption standard (DES)
2 Asymmetric encryption