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Counter Mode for Long Messages and a Long Nonce

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Cyber Security, Cryptology, and Machine Learning (CSCML 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 13301))

Abstract

This paper proposes “Compound-CTR” mode—a simple variation of Counter mode (CTR) with an n bits block cipher. Its goal is to increase the allowed length of a single message and the total number of messages that can be encrypted under a single key.

Compound-CTR encrypts a message and a (randomly chosen) nonce with length greater or equal n bits. It uses a master key to derive a nonce-based encryption key and subsequently uses it for encrypting the message in CTR mode.

We show how Compound-CTR mode achieves its goal and explain why it can be used as a valid variation of CTR mode that could be of interest in some practical scenarios. Compared to CTR mode, the overhead of Compound-CTR is only the per-message key derivation and one extra key expansion (for the block cipher). We show here key derivation options that require only a few extra block cipher calls.

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References

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by: NSF-BSF Grant 2018640; The Israel Science Foundation (grant No. 3380/19); The Center for Cyber Law and Policy at the University of Haifa, in conjunction with the Israel National Cyber Bureau in the Prime Minister’s Office.

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Correspondence to Shay Gueron .

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Cite this paper

Gueron, S. (2022). Counter Mode for Long Messages and a Long Nonce. In: Dolev, S., Katz, J., Meisels, A. (eds) Cyber Security, Cryptology, and Machine Learning. CSCML 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 13301. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07689-3_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-07689-3_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-031-07688-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-07689-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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