Advanced Encryption Standard

• AES stands for Advanced Encryption

Standard and is a majorly used symmetric
encryption algorithm.
•  It is mainly used for encryption and protection
of electronic data.
• It was used as the replacement of DES(Data
encryption standard) as it is much faster and
better than DES.
• AES consists of three block ciphers and these
ciphers are used to provide encryption of data.
• AES was developed by NIST(National Institute
of Standards and Technology) in 1997.
• It was developed for replacing DES which was
slow and was vulnerable to various attacks.
• AES was then published on 26th November
2001.
Characteristics
• AES has keys of three lengths which are of 128,
192, 256 bits.
• It is flexible and has implementation for
software and hardware.
• It provides high security and can prevent many
attacks.
• It doesn’t have any copyright so it can be easily
used globally.
• It consists of 10 rounds of processing for 128
bit keys.
Advantages
• It can be implemented on both hardware and
software.
• It provides high security to the users.
• It provides one of the best open source
solutions for encryption.
• It is a very robust algorithm.
Disadvantages
• It requires many rounds for encryption.
• It is hard to implement on software.
• It needs much processing at different stages.
• It is difficult to implement when performance
has to be considered.
Operation of AES
• AES is an iterative rather than Feistel cipher. It is
based on ‘substitution–permutation network’.
• It comprises of a series of linked operations, some
of which involve replacing inputs by specific
outputs (substitutions) and others involve shuffling
bits around (permutations).
• Interestingly, AES performs all its computations on
bytes rather than bits.
• Hence, AES treats the 128 bits of a plaintext block
as 16 bytes.
• hese 16 bytes are arranged in four columns and
four rows for processing as a matrix −
• Unlike DES, the number of rounds in AES is
variable and depends on the length of the key.
• AES uses 10 rounds for 128-bit keys, 12 rounds
for 192-bit keys and 14 rounds for 256-bit
keys. Each of these rounds uses a different
128-bit round key, which is calculated from
the original AES key.
The schematic of AES structure is given in the
following illustration −
Encryption Process
• Here, we restrict to description of a typical
round of AES encryption. Each round comprise
of four sub-processes. The first round process
is depicted below −
Byte Substitution (SubBytes)
• The 16 input bytes are substituted by looking up a fixed table
(S-box) given in design. The result is in a matrix of four rows
and four columns.
Shiftrows
• Each of the four rows of the matrix is shifted to the left. Any
entries that ‘fall off’ are re-inserted on the right side of row.
Shift is carried out as follows −
• First row is not shifted.
• Second row is shifted one (byte) position to the left.
• Third row is shifted two positions to the left.
• Fourth row is shifted three positions to the left.
• The result is a new matrix consisting of the same 16 bytes but
shifted with respect to each other.
MixColumns
• Each column of four bytes is now transformed
using a special mathematical function.
• This function takes as input the four bytes of
one column and outputs four completely new
bytes, which replace the original column.
• The result is another new matrix consisting of
16 new bytes.
• It should be noted that this step is not
performed in the last round.
Addroundkey
• The 16 bytes of the matrix are now considered
as 128 bits and are XORed to the 128 bits of
the round key.
• If this is the last round then the output is the
ciphertext.
• Otherwise, the resulting 128 bits are
interpreted as 16 bytes and we begin another
similar round.
Decryption Process
• The process of decryption of an AES ciphertext
is similar to the encryption process in the
reverse order. Each round consists of the four
processes conducted in the reverse order −
• Add round key
• Mix columns
• Shift rows
• Byte substitution
 Key Distribution Center
Symmetric Key Distribution Using Symmetric
Encryption
• For symmetric encryption to work, the two
parties to an exchange must share the same
key, and that key must be protected from
access by others.
• For two parties A and B, key distribution can
be achieved in a number of ways, as follows:
• A can select a key and physically deliver it to B.
• A third party can select the key and physically
deliver it to A and B.
• If A and B have previously and recently used a
key, one party can transmit the new key to the
other, encrypted using the old key.
• If A and B each has an encrypted connection
to a third party C, C can deliver a key on the
encrypted links to A and B.
Key distribution centre:
 
• The use of a key distribution center is based on the use
of a hierarchy of keys. At a minimum, two levels of keys
are used.
• Communication between end systems is encrypted using
a temporary key, often referred to as a Session key.
• Typically, the session key is used for the duration of a
logical connection and then discarded
• Master key is shared by the key distribution center and
an end system or user and used to encrypt the session
key.
Key Distribution Scenario:
• Let us assume that user A wishes to establish a
logical connection with B and requires a one-
time session key to protect the data
transmitted over the connection.
• A has a master key, Ka, known only to itself
and the KDC; similarly, B shares the master key
Kb with the KDC. The following steps occur.
1 A issues a request to the KDC for a session key to
protect a logical connection to B. The message
includes the identity of A and B and a unique
identifier, N1, for this transaction, which we refer to as
a nonce.
• The nonce may be a timestamp, a counter, or a
random number; the minimum requirement is that it
differs with each request. Also, to prevent
masquerade.
• It should be difficult for an opponent to guess the
nonce. Thus, a random number is a good choice for a
nonce.
The KDC responds with a message encrypted
using Ka Thus, A is the only one who can
successfully read the message, and A knows
that it originated at the KDC. The message
includes two items intended for A:
– The one-time session key, Ks, to be used for the
session
– The original request message, including the
nonce, to enable A to match this response with
the appropriate request
• Thus, A can verify that its original request was not
altered before reception by the KDC and, because of
the nonce, that this is not a replay of some previous
request. In addition, the message includes two items
intended for B:
 
– The one-time session key, Ks to be used for the session
– An identifier of A (e.g., its network address), IDA
 
• These last two items are encrypted with Kb (the master
key that the KDC shares with B). They are to be sent to
B to establish the connection and prove A's identity.
• A stores the session key for use in the upcoming
session and forwards to B the information that
originated at the KDC for B, namely, E(Kb, [Ks || IDA]).
Because this information is encrypted with Kb, it is
protected from eavesdropping.
• B now knows the session key (Ks), knows that the
other party is A (from IDA), and knows that the
information originated at the KDC (because it
is encrypted using Kb). At this point, a session key
has been securely delivered to A and B, and they may
begin their protected exchange.
 
However, two additional steps are desirable:
• Using the newly minted session key for encryption, B
sends a nonce, N2, to A. 
• Also using Ks, A responds with f(N2), where f is a
function that performs some transformation on N2
(e.g., adding one).
• These steps assure B that the original message it
received (step 3) was not a replay.
• Note that the actual key distribution involves only
steps 1 through 3 but that steps 4 and 5, as well as 3,
perform an authentication function.
 
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