Cryptographic Applications of Non-Commutative Algebraic Structures and Investigations of Nonlinear Recursions

Petrides, George (2006) Cryptographic Applications of Non-Commutative Algebraic Structures and Investigations of Nonlinear Recursions. Doctoral thesis, Manchester Institute for Mathematical Sciences, The University of Manchester.

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Abstract

In this thesis we investigate the application of non-commutative algebraic structures and nonlinear recursions in cryptography. To begin with, we demonstrate that the public key cryptosystem based on the word problem on the Grigorchuk groups, as proposed by M. Garzon and Y. Zalcstein [8], is insecure. We do this by exploiting information contained in the public key in order to construct a key which behaves like the private key and allows successful decryption of ciphertexts. Further on, we present a new block cipher with key-dependent S-boxes, based on the Grigorchuk groups. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time groups are used in a block cipher, whereas they have been extensively used in public key cryptosystems. The study of the cipher’s properties is, at this stage, purely theoretical. Finally, we investigate the notion of nonlinear complexity, or maximal order complexity as it was first defined in 1989 [15], for sequences. Our main purpose is to begin classification of periodic binary sequences into nonlinear complexity classes. Previous work on the subject also includes approximation of the size of each class, found in [7]. Once the classification is completed, we can use it to show how to perform checks for short cycles in large nonlinear feedback shift registers using our proposed algorithm.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctoral)
Additional Information: Dr. Petrides worked with Prof. A. V. Borovik.
Uncontrolled Keywords: cryptography, block cipher, Grigorchuk groups, maximal order complexity
Subjects: MSC 2010, the AMS's Mathematics Subject Classification > 20 Group theory and generalizations
MSC 2010, the AMS's Mathematics Subject Classification > 40 Sequences, series, summability
MSC 2010, the AMS's Mathematics Subject Classification > 68 Computer science
Depositing User: Dr Mark Muldoon
Date Deposited: 10 Sep 2007
Last Modified: 20 Oct 2017 14:12
URI: https://eprints.maths.manchester.ac.uk/id/eprint/847

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