Modes of Operation
Topics
Overview of Modes of Operation
EBC, CBC, CFB, OFB, CTR
Notes and Remarks on each modes
Modes of Operation
Block ciphers encrypt fixed size blocks
eg. DES encrypts 64-bit blocks, with 56-bit key
Need way to use in practise, given usually have arbitrary
amount of information to encrypt
Partition message into separate block for ciphering
A mode of operation describes the process of encrypting each
of these blocks under a single key
Some modes may use randomized addition input value
Quick History
1981 Early modes of operation: ECB, CBC, CFB, OFB
DES Modes of operation
http://www.itl.nist.gov/fipspubs/fip81.htm
2001 Revised and including CTR mode and AES
Recommendation for Block Cipher Modes of Operation
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-38a/sp800-38a.pdf
2010 New Mode : XTS-AES
Recommendation for Block Cipher Modes of Operation: The XTS-AES
Mode for Confidentiality on Storage Devices
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-38E/nist-sp-800-38E.pdf
Modes of operation are nowadays defined by a number of national and
internationally recognized standards bodies such as ISO, IEEE, ANSI and IETF.
The most influential source is the US NIST
Modes of Operation Taxonomy
Current well-known modes of operation
Moe Technical Notes
Initialize Vector (IV)
a block of bits to randomize the encryption and hence to produce distinct
ciphertext
Nonce : Number (used) Once
Random of psuedorandom number to ensure that past communications
can not be reused in replay attacks
Some also refer to initialize vector as nonce
Padding
final block may require a padding to fit a block size
Method
Add null Bytes
Add 0x80 and many 0x00
Add the n bytes with value n
Electronic Codebook Book (ECB)
Message is broken into independent blocks which are
encrypted
Each block is a value which is substituted, like a
codebook, hence name
Each block is encoded independently of the other blocks
Ci = EK (Pi)
Uses: secure transmission of single values
Topics
Overview of Modes of Operation
EBC, CBC, CFB, OFB, CTR
Notes and Remarks on each modes
ECB Scheme
Remarks on ECB
Strength: it’s simple.
Weakness:
Repetitive information contained in the plaintext may show in
the ciphertext, if aligned with blocks.
If the same message is encrypted (with the same key) and sent
twice, their ciphertext are the same.
Typical application:
secure transmission of short pieces of information (e.g. a
temporary encryption key)
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Cipher Block Chaining (CBC)
Solve security deficiencies in ECB
Repeated same plaintext block result different ciphertext
block
Each previous cipher blocks is chained to be input with
current plaintext block, hence name
Use Initial Vector (IV) to start process
Ci = EK (Pi XOR Ci-1)
C0 = IV
Uses: bulk data encryption, authentication
CBC scheme
Remarks on CBC
The encryption of a block depends on the current and
all blocks before it.
So, repeated plaintext blocks are encrypted differently.
Initialization Vector (IV)
May sent encrypted in ECB mode before the rest of
ciphertext
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Cipher FeedBack (CFB)
Use Initial Vector to start process
Encrypt previous ciphertext , then combined with the plaintext block
using X-OR to produce the current ciphertext
Cipher is fed back (hence name) to concatenate with the rest of IV
Plaintext is treated as a stream of bits
Any number of bit (1, 8 or 64 or whatever) to be feed back (denoted CFB-1,
CFB-8, CFB-64)
Relation between plaintext and ciphertext
Ci = Pi XOR SelectLeft(EK (ShiftLeft(Ci-1)))
C0 = IV
Uses: stream data encryption, authentication
CFB Scheme
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CFB Encryption/Decryption
CFB as a Stream Cipher
In CFB mode, encipherment and decipherment use the
encryption function of the underlying block cipher.
Remark on CFB
The block cipher is used as a stream cipher.
• enable to encrypt any number of bits e.g. single bits or single characters
(bytes)
• S=1 : bit stream cipher
• S=8 : character stream cipher)
A ciphertext segment depends on the current and all preceding
plaintext segments.
A corrupted ciphertext segment during transmission will affect
the current and next several plaintext segments.
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Output FeedBack (OFB)
Very similar to CFB
But output of the encryption function output of cipher is fed back
(hence name), instead of ciphertext
Feedback is independent of message
Relation between plaintext and ciphertext
Ci = Pi XOR Oi
Oi = EK (Oi-1)
O0 = IV
Uses: stream encryption over noisy channels
CFB V.S. OFB
Cipher Feedback
Output Feedback
OFB Scheme
OFB Encryption and Decryption
OFB as a Stream Cipher
In OFB mode, encipherment and decipherment use the encryption function
of the underlying block cipher.
Remarks on OFB
Each bit in the ciphertext is independent of the previous bit or
bits. This avoids error propagation
Pre-compute of forward cipher is possible
Security issue
when jth plaintext is known, the jth output of the forward cipher
function will be known
Easily cover jth plaintext block of other message with the same IV
Require that the IV is a nonce
Counter (CTR)
Encrypts counter value with the key rather than any feedback
value (no feedback)
Counter for each plaintext will be different
can be any function which produces a sequence which is guaranteed not
to repeat for a long time
Relation
Ci = Pi XOR Oi
Oi = EK (i)
Uses: high-speed network encryptions
CTR Scheme
CTR Encryption and Decryption
OFB as a Stream Cipher
Remark on CTR
Strengthes:
Needs only the encryption algorithm
Random access to encrypted data blocks
blocks can be processed (encrypted or decrypted) in parallel
Simple; fast encryption/decryption
Counter must be
Must be unknown and unpredictable
pseudo-randomness in the key stream is a goal
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Topics
Overview of Modes of Operation
EBC, CBC, CFB, OFB, CTR
Notes and Remarks on each modes
Remark on each mode
Basically two types:
block cipher
stream cipher
CBC is an excellent block cipher
CFB, OFB, and CTR are stream ciphers
CTR is faster because simpler and it allows parallel
processing
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Modes and IV
An IV has different security requirements than a key
Generally, an IV will not be reused under the same key
CBC and CFB
reusing an IV leaks some information about the first block of
plaintext, and about any common prefix shared by the two
messages
OFB and CTR
reusing an IV completely destroys security
CBC and CTR comparison
CBC CTR
Padding needed No padding
No parallel processing Parallel processing
Separate encryption and decryption Encryption function alone is enough
functions
Random IV or a nonce Unique nonce
Nonce reuse leaks some information Nonce reuse will leak information
about initial plaintext block about the entire message
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Comparison of Different Modes
Comparison of Modes
Mode Description Application
ECB 64-bit plaintext block encoded Secure transmission of
separately encryption key
CBC 64-bit plaintext blocks are XORed Commonly used
with preceding 64-bit ciphertext method. Used for
authentication
CFB s bits are processed at a time and Primary stream cipher.
used similar to CBC Used for authentication
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Comparison of Modes
Mode Description Application
OFB Similar to CFB except that Stream cipher well suited
the output is fed back for transmission over
noisy channels
CTR Key calculated using the General purpose block
nonce and the counter value. oriented transmission.
Counter is incremented for Used for high-speed
each block communications
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Final Notes
ECB, CBC, OFB, CFB, CTR, and XTS modes only provide confidentiality
To ensure an encrypted message is not accidentally modified or maliciously
tampered requires a separate Message Authentication Code (MAC)
Several MAC schemes
HMAC, CMAC and GMAC
But.. compositing a confidentiality mode with an authenticity mode could
be difficult and error prone
New modes combined confidentiality and data integrity into a single
cryptographic primitive
CCM, GCM, CWC, EAX, IAPM and OCB
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Q&A
