Abstract
For optimal utilization of the resources, a stream cipher running on a \(w\)-bit machine should ideally produce \(w\) bits in every round of keystream generation. With increasing data-widths of processors, scalability of stream ciphers is a pertinent issue which is often addressed with ad hoc cipher-specific designs. In this paper, we propose a generic framework for designing stream ciphers with scalable data-widths by combining multiple instances of a single stream cipher following certain principles. We demonstrate using a case study on the fastest software stream cipher HC-128 in the eSTREAM final portfolio to show that the proposed design increases the performance without decreasing the security of the cipher.
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Acknowledgments
We sincerely thank the anonymous reviewers for their feedback and suggestions that helped in improving the technical as well as the editorial quality our paper. We also express our gratitude to the Centre of Excellence in Cryptology (CoEC), Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, funded by the Government of India, for partial support towards this project.
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Paul, G., Chattopadhyay, A. Designing stream ciphers with scalable data-widths: a case study with HC-128. J Cryptogr Eng 4, 135–143 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13389-014-0071-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13389-014-0071-0