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In today's interconnected world, safeguarding digital data's confidentiality and security is crucial. Cryptography and steganography are two primary methods used for information security. While these methods have diverse applications, there is ongoing exploration into the potential benefits of merging them. This review focuses on journal articles from 2010 onwards and conference papers from 2018 onwards that integrate steganography and cryptography in practical applications. The results are gathered through different databases like Scopus, IEEE, and Web of Science. Our approach involves gaining insights into real-world applications explored in the existing literature and categorizing them based on domains and technological areas. Furthermore, we comprehensively analyze the advantages and limitations associated with these implementations, examining them from three evaluation perspectives: security, performance, and user experience. This categorization offers guidance for future research in unexplored areas, while the evaluation perspectives provide essential considerations for analyzing real-world implementations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of science and technology and the appearance of various special conditions that cause signers to be unable to sign, proxy signature is gradually becoming a hot spot in cryptography research. This paper combines proxy signature, quantum teleportation, and multi-party verification and proposes a multi-party verifiable quantum proxy signature scheme based on quantum teleportation. This scheme has the following characteristics: The authentication method based on the H a s h function can effectively solve the problem of identity identification among members; in order for the proxy signer to be able to verify the correctness of the proxy authorization, a form of proxy signature authorization that concatenates the identity information of the original signer is used. The security analysis shows that our scheme is unforgeable and undeniable and can resist intercept-resend attacks and cheating attacks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Security inks based on photoluminescent materials are mostly investigated for security applications, such as information encryption and decryption, anti‐counterfeiting, and data storage. Although they are invisible to the naked eye under ambient light, they can be detected under ultraviolet or near‐infrared light. Herein, a new kind of secret paper made from network‐structured ultralong hydroxyapatite nanowires and cellulose fibers has been developed. White vinegar, a common cooking ingredient, is used as an invisible security ink. Covert information on the secret paper written with white vinegar is totally invisible under natural light, but it can be decrypted and clearly read after exposure to fire; the response time to fire is short (<10 s). The ways of writing on the secret paper are diverse by using various pens loaded with white vinegar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) based on chaos has been widely used in the fields of digital communication, cryptography and computer simulation. In this paper, we study a new PRNG based on spatial surface chaotic system (SSCS), which is constructed based on coupling mapping lattice (CML) and one-dimensional Logistic chaotic map. To verify the performance of this generator, we study its nonlinear dynamic properties, including the Lyapunov exponent, ergodicity and bifurcation phenomena. Moreover, we analyze the cryptographic properties such as key space, key sensitivity, correlation, histogram and information entropy, while performing NIST SP800-22 test and TestU01 test for the randomness of this system. Theoretical analysis and numerical simulation results show that the PRNG proposed in this paper has good complexity, ergodicity, sensitivity and randomness. Moreover, the key space can increase dynamically with the increase of encrypted data, especially suitable for the protection of big data such as multimedia, which is more advantageous than most existing chaotic mapping. The results of this paper will provide a new idea for the study of chaotic cryptography, and motivate the study of new discrete chaotic models with desirable statistical properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the realm of smart communication systems, where the ubiquity of 5G/6G networks and IoT applications demands robust data confidentiality, the cryptographic integrity of block and stream cipher mechanisms plays a pivotal role. This paper focuses on the enhancement of cryptographic strength in these systems through an innovative approach to generating substitution boxes (S-boxes), which are integral in achieving confusion and diffusion properties in substitution–permutation networks. These properties are critical in thwarting statistical, differential, linear, and other forms of cryptanalysis, and are equally vital in pseudorandom number generation and cryptographic hashing algorithms. The paper addresses the challenge of rapidly producing random S-boxes with desired cryptographic attributes, a task notably arduous given the complexity of existing generation algorithms. We delve into the hill climbing algorithm, exploring various cost functions and their impact on computational complexity for generating S-boxes with a target nonlinearity of 104. Our contribution lies in proposing a new cost function that markedly reduces the generation complexity, bringing down the iteration count to under 50,000 for achieving the desired S-box. This advancement is particularly significant in the context of smart communication environments, where the balance between security and performance is paramount. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the global data strategy deepens and data elements accelerate integrating and flowing more rapidly, the demand for data security and privacy protection has become increasingly prominent. Confidential computing emerges as a crucial security technology to solve security and privacy problem, and it is also a hot subject of in contemporary security technologies. Leveraging collaborative security in both hardware and software, it builds a trusted execution environment to ensure confidentiality and integrity protection for data in use. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the development process of confidential computing, summarizing its current research status and issues, which focuses on the security requirements for data security and privacy protection. Furthermore, it deeply analyses the common technical features of confidential computing, and proposes a trusted confidential computing architecture based on collaborative hardware and software trust. Then, it elaborates on the research status and issues of confidential computing from four aspects: hardware security, architecture and key technologies, applications, and standards and evaluation. Finally, this paper provides a synthesis and outlook for the future development of confidential computing. In summary, confidential computing is currently in a rapidly developing stage and will play an important role in cyber security in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The security of wireless communication systems has been the focal subject of research for more than a century. It is a topic of vital importance due to its effectiveness in many fields. Besides, the importance of sending data from one point to another without intercepting by unwanted third-party has become an essential requirement in conjunction with the widespread hacking technologies. This research paper is set out to explore a new technique used in internet of things applications that will ensure a secure wireless communication system. Additionally, it clarifies five distinct cryptographic methods: advanced encryption standard, elliptic curve cryptography, transposition, substitution, and Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman. In addition, the secure wireless communication system combines four of the prementioned techniques to build a highly secure system. Moreover, we managed to elucidate the critical points of our work on the long-range systems into a short yet informative and detailed summary. This paper will extensively cover the following topics: cryptography, cryptographic methods and techniques, software implementation, applications, and advantages of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, many image encryption algorithms have been proposed. Part of them failed to pass the cryptanalysis test and were found to be unsecure. Some others were more secure and could resist the known cryptanalysis methods. Many of those recent schemes followed a well-known model that consists of encrypting the image's pixels using a variety of techniques and methods. Many algorithms were claimed to be secure and performant to be used in real applications. This paper investigates this claim by performing a comparative analysis between a chaotic algorithm recently proposed and the standard general purpose AES cryptosystem in a web application context. The experimental tests conducted on both algorithms in this paper proved that the pixel-wise algorithms are not suitable for this kind of applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, it is difficult to imagine a powerful algorithm of cryptography that can continue cryptanalyzing and attacking without the use of unconventional techniques. Although some of the substitution algorithms are old, such as Vigenere, Alberti, and Trithemius ciphers, they are considered powerful and cannot be broken. In this paper we produce the novelty algorithm, by using of biological computation as an unconventional search tool combined with an uninhibited analysis method is the vertical probabilistic model, that makes attacking and analyzing these ciphers possible and very easy to transform the problem from a complex to a linear one, which is a novelty achievement. The letters of the encoded message are processed in the form of segments of equal length, to report the available hardware components. Each letter codon represents a region of the memory strand, and the letters calculated for it are symbolized within the probabilistic model so that each pair has a triple encoding: the first is given as a memory strand encoding and the others are its complement in the sticker encoding; These encodings differ from one region to another. The solution space is calculated and then the parallel search process begins. Some memory complexities are excluded even though they are within the solution paths formed, because the natural language does not contain its sequences. The precision of the solution and the time consuming of access to it depend on the length of the processed text, and the precision of the solution is often inversely proportional to the speed of access to it. As an average of the time spent to reach the solution, a text with a length of 200 cipher characters needs approximately 15 minutes to give 98% of the correct components of the specific hardware. The aim of the paper is to transform OTP substitution analysis from a NP problem to a O(nm) problem, which makes it easier to find solutions to it easily with the available capabilities and to develop methods that are harnessed to attack difficult and powerful ciphers that differ in class and type from the OTP polyalphabetic substitution ciphers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The foundation of this research is the quantum implementation of two hashing algorithms, namely Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA1) and Message Digest (MD5). Quantum cryptography is a challenging topic in network security for future networks. Quantum cryptography is an outgrowth of two broad topics—cryptology and cryptanalysis. In this paper, SHA1 and MD5 algorithms are designed and implemented for quantum computers. The main aim is to study and investigate the time requirement to build a hash and the bit rate at which a hash value is sent through. In this paper, a comprehensive analysis of these two algorithms is performed. Experiments have been done to compare and contrast the performances of the classical and proposed algorithms. In the experiment, it was found that the total time of execution of quantum SHA1 and quantum MD5 is much higher than the classical SHA1 and MD5. During quantum MD5 execution, it is observed that the time doubles when the number of chunks is increased from 1 to 2. Another experimental observation is that the execution time of the implemented algorithms depends upon the processor's speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of artificial intelligence (AI), deep learning is widely used in various industries. At CRYPTO 2019, researchers used deep learning to analyze the block cipher for the first time and constructed a differential neural network distinguisher to meet a certain accuracy. In this paper, a mixture differential neural network distinguisher using ResNet is proposed to further improve the accuracy by exploring the mixture differential properties. Experiments are conducted on SIMON32/64, and the accuracy of the 8-round mixture differential neural network distinguisher is improved from 74.7% to 92.3%, compared with that of the previous differential neural network distinguisher. The prediction accuracy of the differential neural network distinguisher is susceptible to the choice of the specified input differentials, whereas the mixture differential neural network distinguisher is less affected by the input difference and has greater robustness. Furthermore, by combining the probabilistic expansion of rounds and the neutral bit, the obtained mixture differential neural network distinguisher is extended to 11 rounds, which can realize the 12-round actual key recovery attack on SIMON32/64. With an appropriate increase in the time complexity and data complexity, the key recovery accuracy of the mixture differential neural network distinguisher can be improved to 55% as compared to 52% of the differential neural network distinguisher. The mixture differential neural network distinguisher proposed in this paper can also be applied to other lightweight block ciphers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thus far, several papers reported concrete resource estimates of Shor's quantum algorithm for solving the elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem. In this paper, we study quantum FLT-based inversion algorithms over binary elliptic curves. There are two major algorithms proposed by Banegas et al. and Putranto et al., where the former and latter algorithms achieve fewer numbers of qubits and smaller depths of circuits, respectively. We propose two quantum FLT-based inversion algorithms that essentially outperform previous FLT-based algorithms and compare the performance for NIST curves of the degree n. Specifically, for all n, our first algorithm achieves fewer qubits than Putranto et al.'s one without sacrificing the number of Toffoli gates and the depth of circuits, while our second algorithm achieves smaller depths of circuits without sacrificing the number of qubits and Toffoli gates. For example, when n = 571 , the number of qubits of our first algorithm is 74 % of that of Putranto et al.'s one, while the depth of our second algorithm is 83 % of that of Banegas et al.'s one. The improvements stem from the fact that FLT-based inversions can be performed with arbitrary sequences of addition chains for n - 1 although both Banegas et al. and Putranto et al. follow fixed sequences that were introduced by Itoh and Tsujii's classical FLT-based inversion. In particular, we analyze how several properties of addition chains, which do not affect the computational resources of classical FLT-based inversions, affect the computational resources of quantum FLT-based inversions and find appropriate sequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) or Data Encryption Standard (DES) are standard block cipher techniques mostly used for text or numbers but not preferred for multimedia data. Many researchers presented their work for grayscale image cryptography. However, little work has been reported for RGB image cryptography. This paper presents DieRoll, an encryption technique for color images. The key generation provides a novel approach with various stages of dividing and scrambling followed by using a fair die to transpose, reintegrate and form a new key. This newly generated key is used to encrypt RGB images. The implementation and performance evaluation of DieRoll is also given. The paper compares DieRoll encryption techniques with other techniques found in the literature. Quantitative and visual evaluation is also presented to analyze the resistance against modern threats. In the end attack analysis is given to support the claims. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context and background: The blockchain technology is as a new technology in vogue that is virtually getting a swift application in most important art world transactions. This is due to its public distributed, transparent, accountable, traceable and safe, ledger database, also is the advantage to secure a successful transaction without a third party. As the world keeps growing in the knowledge and the adoption of the technology, it is very important to practically explore the opportunities in this technology to combat the security and copyright problems facing land ownership transactions in the Cadastre system. Goal and Objectives: The goal of this paper is to practically access the possibility of engaging the blockchain technology in land administration and ownership systems while the objective is to convert legal instrument(s) into cryptographic readable data. Methodology: This was done by minting survey plans template into Non-Fungible Token. Two blockchains (Solana and CORE blockchains) were considered to show the possibility of adopting the technology in land administration and ownership systems. The selection was based on their flexibility, Scalability and the potentials to solve the trilemma blockchain problems. A survey plan template called DEMO (no real) was created for this purpose. Transactions on the FONE network Art NFT marketplace built on Solana blockchain was examined while an art NFT of survey plan template was minted on the Youngparrot NFT marketplace built on CORE blockchain. Results: The transactions were completed and the survey plan was successfully minted on the Core blockchain. the minting and transaction records are available and can be traced on the public blockchain ledger. Due to this advantage, this paper urges the consideration to take advantage of the possibilities and positivity of the technology in Land Administration sector and land ownership system and also provides steps to achieving its successful adoption. In addition, this is not a financial advice but a research work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Priced oblivious transfer (POT) is a cryptographic protocol designed for privacy-preserving e-commerce of digital content. It involves two parties: the merchant, who provides a set of priced items as input, and a customer, who acquires one of them. After the protocol has run, the customer obtains the item they chose, while the merchant cannot determine which one. Moreover, the protocol guarantees that the customer gets the content only if they have paid the price established by the merchant. In a recent paper, the authors proposed a POT system where the payments employed e-coin transactions. The strong point of the proposal was the absence of zero-knowledge proofs required in preceding systems to guarantee the correctness of payments. In this paper, we propose a novel e-coin-based POT system with a fast item retrieval procedure whose running time does not depend on the number of items for sale. This is an improvement over the aforementioned existing proposal whose execution time becomes prohibitively long when the catalog is extensive. The use of zero-knowledge proofs is neither required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conditional Privacy Preserving Authentication (CPPA) schemes are an effective way of securing communications in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), as well as ensuring user privacy and accountability. Cryptanalysis plays a crucial role in pointing out the vulnerabilities in existing schemes to enable the development of more resilient ones. In 2019, Zhang proposed a CPPA scheme for VANET security (PA-CRT), based on identity batch verification (IBV) and Chinese Remainder Theorem (CRT). In this paper, we cryptanalyze Zhang's scheme and point out its vulnerability to impersonation and repudiation attacks. In 2023, Zhang's scheme was cryptanalyzed by Tao; however, we point out flaws in Tao's cryptanalysis due to invalid assumptions; hence, we propose countermeasures to Tao's attacks. Furthermore, in 2021, Xiong proposed a Certificateless Aggregate Signature (CLAS) scheme which is also cryptanalyzed in this paper. Finally, we analyze the causes and countermeasures by pointing out the vulnerabilities in each scheme that enabled us to launch successful attacks and proposing changes that would fortify these schemes against similar attacks in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a reconfigurable image confusion scheme, which uses Linear Congruential Generators (LCGs)-based Pseudorandom Bits Generator (PRBG). The PRBG is based on the variable input-coupled LCG with a reconfigurable clock divider. The proposed algorithm encrypts the input image up to four times successively using different random sequences in every attempt. This new scheme aims to efficiently extract statistically strong pseudorandom sequences from a proposed PRBG with a large keyspace and simultaneously increase the security level of the encrypted image. This PRBG was initially designed on Virtex-5 (XC5VLX110T), Virtex-7 (XC7VX330T) and Artix-7 (XC7A100T) Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs). The statistical properties of the proposed PRBG for four different configurations are verified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) tests. Thereafter, a reconfigurable encryption/decryption algorithm that uses the proposed PRBG is developed for secure image encryption. The encryption process was accomplished using the MATLAB tool after obtaining the PRBG keys from the FPGA. To show the quality and strength of the encryption process, security analysis [correlations and Number of Pixels Change Rate (NPCR)] is performed. Security analysis results are compared with the conventional encryption algorithm to show that the developed reconfigurable encryption scheme provides better results in security tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current landscape where quantum algorithms pose a significant threat to conventional digital signature algorithms, code-based digital signature algorithms have emerged as the primary focus of ongoing research in post-quantum cryptography. Digital signatures play a pivotal role in ensuring non-repudiation and authentication, making them an indispensable cryptographic technique. The vulnerability of most digital signature algorithms to quantum attacks have prompted a significant surge in research on code-based digital signature algorithms, which have emerged as a prominent field within post-quantum cryptography. There are generally three distinct approaches to constructing code-based digital signature algorithms: (1) Developing an algorithm that follows the inverse process of the code-based public-key encryption algorithm; (2) Utilizing zero-knowledge identification algorithms in conjunction with the Fiat–Shamir paradigm to formulate a signature algorithm; (3) Constructing a specialized subset of the syndrome space as the foundation for the digital signature algorithm. Chameleon Signature is a non-interactive signature that operates on the hash and signature paradigm, exhibiting comparable efficiency to conventional schemes. Its distinct advantage lies in the fact that the owner of the public key does not necessarily require access to the corresponding secret key within the Chameleon hash algorithm. Notably, Chameleon signatures possess an inherent characteristic of non-transferability, with their validity ascertainable solely by designated recipients. This paper introduces the first Chameleon hash function based on both KKS and HFE schemes, showcasing its superiority over traditional schemes through rank metrics and big fields for enhanced security. The deployment of Chameleon hash functions within hash-and-sign signature schemes introduces a nuanced layer of security and verification flexibility. This study elucidates the implications of integrating Chameleon hash functions into the recipient's public key infrastructure, highlighting the dual capability it affords authorized parties for secure and adaptable verification processes, alongside mechanisms for the detection of unauthorized alterations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As communication capabilities of mobile devices continue to advance, ensuring reliability and security has become increasingly crucial. The aerial tracking system presented in this paper provides a useful solution for tracking and tracing objects in various scenarios. To ensure reliability and security, the system incorporates appropriate mechanisms, including Lightweight Cryptography, to prioritize confidentiality and integrity. The Android component of the system has two modes of operation: Tracker Mode, running on a smartphone mounted on a drone (RPA), and Client Mode, running on mobile devices on the ground. In Client Mode, users transmit their positioning and trajectory information via Bluetooth Low Energy beacon mode, which is then relayed to the server backend via the 4G/5G network once the RPA enters an area with coverage. The system provides a reliable and secure solution for situations where tracking and tracing are essential, such as the supervision and control of public areas with capacity control or tracking and localizing people in isolated environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recommender systems have been widely used for implementing personalised content on many mobile online services to reduce computational overload and preserve wireless data for users. The underlying mechanisms used for building recommender systems analyse data collected from users to make recommendations. This poses concerns over the privacy of data from users as both service providers and the cloud will have access. Privacy-preserving recommender systems protect user information by incorporating various cryptographic mechanisms to prevent accessing the data. However, existing works are not practical due to the use of heavy cryptography. In this paper, we propose an efficient privacy-preserving recommender system that takes advantage of clustering to improve efficiency. Using a secure clustering mechanism, user data are assigned to multiple clusters before being fed into the recommendation. Our proposed protocols are privacy-preserving and do not leak information that could be used to identify a data subject. The experiments show that our system is efficient and accurate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electronic voting is an efficient way of conducting the voting process, which has the characteristics of real-time data and massive data and demands high security. In this paper, we propose a novel approach for electronic voting that utilizes decentralized network architecture with Blockchain and Hybrid cryptography techniques. Our system aims to address the challenges faced in administering EVMs and ensuring high security in strong rooms, which can lead to privacy and security flaws in the voting system. Our proposed model utilizes a wireless mesh topology to enlist vote details and modernize the chain of blocks, resulting in improved data confidentiality and reduced human resources. A customized UDP packet structure is designed to avoid port scanning and network traces, while the use of port numbers is eliminated for increased security. We also incorporate a three-layer encryption stack for secure key exchanges, which ensures perfect forward secrecy and an uncompromised state of the packet. By reducing the number of threads needed for Transport layer Protocol (TCP) connections; our proposed model improves the speed and security of the existing architecture. Overall, our approach offers a highly secure and efficient electronic voting system that meets the demands of secrecy, accuracy, and neutrality in the process of voting and counting. Our proposed system has the potential to prevent poll rigging by trespassers, ensuring a fair and trustworthy electoral process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) has been a prevalent cryptographic structure in the world. Existing AES-related cryptographic accelerators generally face the problem of high power consumption. To deal with this challenge, this paper presents a cryptographic structure that employs iterative reuse to decrease resource utilization. Through the efficient use of delay-line RAM, the implementation of long-length key storage results in a reduction in the utilization of registers. The computational complexity of AES cryptographic algorithm is reduced by using homomorphic mapping to the inversion operation in S-box from the Galois Fields GF(28) to GF[(24)2]. Such proposed AES cryptographic accelerator is characterized by its low resource utilization and low power consumption. In addition, we have also conducted some simulation analysis to evaluate its performance. The synthesis result indicates that the AES cryptographic accelerator exhibits a 0.74% reduction in utilization of LUT and a 35% decrease in power consumption, as compared to the original version. The proposed AES cryptographic accelerator results in an area of 0.101mm2, a throughput of 12.28Gbps, and a power consumption of 2.56mW in TSMC 90nm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum computation models have profoundly impacted cryptanalysis. Differential cryptanalysis is one of the most fundamental methods in cryptanalysis of block ciphers, and one of the variations of this attack is related-key differential cryptanalysis. In this paper, quantum related-key differential cryptanalysis is implemented in two main stages of classical version. We employ Bernstein–Vazirani algorithm to find related-key differential characteristics in the first stage. Building on this basis, the second stage combines quantum maximum algorithm and quantum counting algorithm to recover correct key pair by quantum random access memory model. Compared to classical related-key differential cryptanalysis, the first stage achieves exponential acceleration, while the second stage accelerates at O(K), where K 2 represents the number of candidate key pairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The three party authenticated key agreement protocol assists two parties in affirming one another and agreeing on a shared session key with the assistance of a trusted server. Chaos-based cryptography has seen considerable progress due to the sound characteristics of chaotic systems. Nowadays, many researchers are actively working in this direction and have proposed various three party authenticated key agreement protocols based on chaotic maps. In this paper, we analysed the Zheng et al. 's scheme (IEEE Access 8:66150–66162, 2020, https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2020.2979251) and found that it is vulnerable to various attacks like verification table theft attack, impersonation attacks and also it does not provide anonymity to users. Zheng et al.'s scheme also has flaw in registration phase and uses timestamps for key freshness. In this article, we proposed a three party chaotic based authenticated key agreement protocol which is secured against aforementioned attacks. Authors are also compared the proposed scheme with other comparable and existing schemes in terms of security features, computation cost, and communication cost. The comparison analysis shows that the proposed scheme has more security features at a lower cost in computing and communication. We have also demonstrated the security of the proposed protocol within the framework of the random oracle model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we changed the methodology for pixel value differencing. The proposed method work on RGB color images improves the existing PVD technique in terms of embedding capacity and overcomes the issue of falling off boundaries in the traditional PVD technique, and provides security to the secret message from histogram quantization attack. Color images are composed of three different color channels (red, green, and blue), so we cannot apply the traditional pixel value differencing algorithm to them. Due to that, the proposed technique divides the RGB photograph in red, blue, and green channels. Following that the modified pixel value differencing algorithm is employed to all successive pixels of color channels. We get the total embedding capacity by adding the embedding capacities of each color component. After embedding the data, we concatenate the color channels to get the stegoimage. On a series of color images, we tested our pixel value differencing approach and found that the stego-picture's visual excellence and payload capacity were reasonable. The variation in histogram between the stego and cover photographs was minor, making it resistant to histogram quantization attacks, and the suggested approach also solves the issue of falling off the boundary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) and its application across various sectors has led to increased interconnectivity and data sharing between devices and sensors. While this has brought convenience to users, it has also raised concerns about information security, including data security and identity authentication. IIoT devices are particularly vulnerable to attacks due to their lack of robust key management systems, efficient authentication processes, high fault tolerance, and other issues. To address these challenges, technologies such as blockchain and the formal analysis of security protocols can be utilized. And blockchain-based Industrial Internet of Things (BIIoT) is the new direction. These technologies leverage the strengths of cryptography and logical reasoning to provide secure data communication and ensure reliable identity authentication and verification, thereby becoming a crucial support for maintaining the security of the Industrial Internet. In this paper, based on the theory of the strand space attack model, we improved the Fiber Channel Password Authentication Protocol (FACP) security protocol in the network environment based on symmetric cryptography and asymmetric cryptography. Specifically, in view of the problem that the challenge value cannot reach a consensus under the symmetric cryptography system, and the subject identity cannot reach a consensus under the asymmetric cryptography system, an improved protocol is designed and implemented to meet the authentication requirements, and the corresponding attack examples are shown. Finally, the effectiveness and security of the protocol were verified by simulating different networking environments. The improved protocol has shown an increase in efficiency compared with the original protocol across three different network configurations. There was a 6.43% increase in efficiency when centralized devices were connected to centralized devices, a 5.81% increase in efficiency when centralized devices were connected to distributed devices, and a 6.32% increase in efficiency when distributed devices were connected to distributed devices. Experimental results show that this protocol can enhance the security and efficiency of communication between devices and between devices and nodes (servers, disks) in commonly used Ethernet passive optical network (EPON) environments without affecting the identity authentication function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we perform neural cryptanalysis on five block ciphers: Data Encryption Standard (DES), Simplified DES (SDES), Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Simplified AES (SAES), and SPECK. The block ciphers are investigated on three different deep learning-based attacks, Encryption Emulation (EE), Plaintext Recovery (PR), Key Recovery (KR), and Ciphertext Classification (CC) attacks. The attacks attempt to break the block ciphers in various cases, such as different types of plaintexts (i.e., block-sized bit arrays and texts), different numbers of round functions and quantity of training data, different text encryption methods (i.e., Word-based Text Encryption (WTE) and Sentence-based Text Encryption (STE)), and different deep learning model architectures. As a result, the block ciphers can be vulnerable to EE and PR attacks using a large amount of training data, and STE can improve the strength of the block ciphers, unlike WTE, which shows almost the same classification accuracy as the plaintexts, especially in a CC attack. Moreover, especially in the KR attack, the Recurrent Neural Network (RNN)-based deep learning model shows higher average Bit Accuracy Probability than the fully connected-based deep learning model. Furthermore, the RNN-based deep learning model is more suitable than the transformer-based deep learning model in the CC attack. Besides, when the keys are the same as the plaintexts, the KR attack can perfectly break the block ciphers, even if the plaintexts are randomly generated. Additionally, we identify that DES and SPECK32/64 applying two round functions are more vulnerable than those applying the single round function by performing the KR attack with randomly generated keys and randomly generated single plaintext. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Security, a fundamental concern in the design and implementation of industrial Internet‐of‐Things (IIoT) networks, can be addressed through an effective authentication mechanism. Because the devices' battery, CPU, and memory are finite resources, any method designed for the IIoT must be resource sensitive. Our paper discussed a mechanism for device mutual authentication in IIoT networks that is adaptable, lightweight, safe, and efficient. In the proposed mechanism, the devices receive a primary secret value and physical unclonable function‐challenge/response pair (PUF‐CRPs) from the server and employ these values to authenticate one another. Later, IIoT devices requests server to update PUF‐CRPs for future communication We employed one‐way hash function, concatenation operation, XOR operation, and PUF‐CRPs to take into account the resource constraints of the devices. It has been established that the proposed mechanism is immune to well‐known attacks after it has undergone a formal evaluation for safety through BAN logic, and automatic validation through AVISPA and ProVerif tools. Comparative evaluation of the existing mechanisms and the proposed mechanism demonstrated that our proposed mechanism is superior to existing mechanisms, and its experimental study revealed that it uses 28% less energy. Our proposed mechanism is more secure and effective in terms of computing, communication, and storage overheads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of interconnected smart devices or objects interact with the physical environment known as the Internet of Things (IoT). These networks efficiently perform complex tasks with a high level of intelligence without human intervention and require run-time processing and computation. Edge computing is introduced where devices are placed at the edge between the data source and the cloud. These devices can provide more powerful computational and storage capabilities to IoT users. With various benefits, one of the significant requirements is secure and trustworthy data communication. Various trust management schemes are introduced to guarantee the trustworthiness and isolation of the malicious nodes and give preference to the most trustworthy ones. The existing schemes selected trustworthy nodes again and again from the path without considering the load factor which leads them to be more vulnerable for the Denial of Services (DoS) attacks. In this paper, we propose a Link-based Penalized Trust Management scheme to provide trust management and consider load factors for the selection of most trustworthy nodes and provide a preemptive measure to secure the network from DoS attacks based on its link's association. Simulation results indicate the better performance of the proposed scheme as compared with existing schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cryptography plays a key role in information systems of financial industry. With the rapid development of financial industry, the scale of the financial cryptographic services continues to expand, and the volume of terminal devices increased significantly, causing problems such as system complexity and extreme workload. The centralized data processing model enabled by cloud computing can ease these problems to some extent, but when the data produced by various kinds of devices (e.g. IoT devices) continues to increase rapidly, cloud computing-based services subsequentially cannot meet the demand of real-time and efficient data processing. The edge computing is an emerging computing model, which is capable of hierarchically managing the resource, and supporting the deployment of cryptographic services at the edge. The edge computing-based cryptographic service separates data encryption/ decryption processing and provides low-level interfaces for financial business systems. It could simplify the way financial business systems obtain cryptographic services. In this paper, we propose an edge oriented cryptographic key management service, which consists of system monitor module, key management module and security management module. The proposed service enables the management of the whole life cycle of cryptographic keys, and reconstructs the process of cryptographic key. In a 1-year continuous testing, the proposed system achieved a total of 36 million cryptographic key distributions, and each cryptographic key has a lifecycle of 1.5 days on average. The TPS reached 15,000, and the system availability reached 99.99% throughout the year. The proposed system now is officially available as a commercial cryptographic service platform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellular automaton (CA) is a computing model which is emerging rapidly. It is largely used in different types of scientific applications and simulations due to its ability to solve complex problems using simple rule(s). Cellular automata (CAs) are used in different types of applications like cryptography, VLSI systems, fault detection, etc. Typically, most of these applications utilize one-dimensional, 2-state, 3-neighborhood CAs. This paper explores the concept of Next State RMT Transition Diagram (NSRTD) for characterization of all the Elementary Cellular Automata (ECA) rules in periodic boundary condition leading to the identification of all ECA rules forming more than two fixed points (referred to as Single Length Cycle Multi-Attractor CA (MACA)) for an arbitrary CA length (n). For this, the 88 Wolfram classification rules and their equivalent rules have been utilized to reduce the search complexity by avoiding exhaustive searching on all the 256 ECA rules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we define expanded LRPC codes from LRPC codes with a decoding algorithm using the one of the underlying LRPC codes. Next, we propose to use these codes for cryptography by deriving two cryptosystems in a McEliece setting. in order to reduce the key sizes, we use a generator matrix in systematic form for the first scheme, and an m − order quasi-cyclic LRPC code that we define for the second scheme. The obtained code has a very poor structure and is more likely to be a random linear code. Next, we give some security parameters and compare the key sizes of our public key with the key sizes of some cryptosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Secret-sharing is a vital topic of cryptography and has widely used in information protection. One technique to the development of secret-sharing schemes is primarily based on error-correcting codes. In this paper, we determine the minimal codewords of relative four-weight codes and have the utility in the secret sharing schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of c-differential uniformity was proposed by Ellingsen et al., which generalizes the classical differential uniformity measuring the resistance against differential cryptanalysis. Since then, the research of functions with low c-differential uniformity over finite fields attracted many researchers’ attention. However, it seems that there is no study of function with low c-differential uniformity over integer rings modulo n. In this paper, we give an extension of the c-differential uniformity concept to rings of integers module some n > 0, and we present several perfect c-nonlinear polynomial functions on the integer ring ℤn for the different integer n. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we study the permutation properties of the class of trinomials of the form f(x) = x4q+1 + λ1xq+4 + λ2x2q+3 ∈ Fq²[x] where λ1, λ2 ∈ Fq and they are not simultaneously zero. We find all necessary and sufficient conditions on λ1 and λ2 such that f(x) permutes Fq², where q is odd and q = 22k+1, k ∈ N. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper studies mappings F of binary vector spaces of large dimensions. The mappings are assumed to be represented by deep branching superpositions of local non-linear mappings of low-dimensional spaces. We propose and investigate the methods for construction of probabilistic linear and differential relations connecting the arguments and the values of a mapping F. Relation selection is based on optimization not the exact probability of satisfying these relations, but some approximation of it since it is easier to estimate. We prove theorems on exact values of the probability of satisfying the relations obtained, identify the shortcomings and features of the proposed approach to the relation construction and illustrate them by a number of examples. We discuss the role of the developed theory for cryptographic synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantum computing has made many important achievements in the field of cryptanalysis. However, due to the limitations of current physical system and technology, the realization of large-scale universal quantum computers is a long way off. Currently, small-scale quantum computers are easier to implement than large-scale universal quantum computers. Distributed quantum computing proposes an implementation architecture, which attempts to break down large-scale tasks into many sub-tasks distributed across multiple small-scale quantum computers. How to use small-scale quantum computers with fewer qubits and shallower quantum depths to complete large-scale tasks and improve the success rate of attacking symmetric cryptosystems is our concern. In this paper, we propose a distributed exact Simon's algorithm, apply it to achieve quantum key recovery attacks on single-permutation-based pseudorandom cryptographic schemes with classical birthday bound security, and estimate the quantum resources of quantum circuits. Furthermore, we combine distributed exact Grover's algorithm and distributed exact Simon's algorithm to achieve quantum key recovery attacks on two-permutation-based pseudorandom cryptographic schemes with classical beyond birthday bound security and estimate the corresponding quantum resources. Our results show that (1) our algorithms are exact which means that the theoretical success probability of attacking pseudorandom cryptographic schemes is 100%; (2) the depth of circuit is in polynomial time which means that the theoretical depth of attacking symmetric cryptosystems is exponentially accelerated relative to the previous results; (3) the qubits of circuit don't increase significantly. Our work is of great importance. It could lead to the rapid realization of effective quantum attacks against symmetric cryptosystems on small-scale quantum computers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is widely recognized as a robust cryptographic algorithm utilized to protect data integrity and confidentiality. When it comes to lightweight implementations of the algorithm, the literature mainly emphasizes area and power optimization, often overlooking considerations related to performance and security. This paper evaluates two of our previously proposed lightweight AES implementations using both profiled and non-profiled attacks. One is an unprotected implementation, and the other one is a protected version using Domain-Oriented Masking (DOM). The findings of this study indicate that the inclusion of DOM in the design enhances its resistance to attacks at the cost of doubling the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To ensure the security of sensitive data, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) is adopted as an asymmetric method that balances security and efficiency. Nevertheless, embedding messages into elliptic curve (EC) points poses a significant challenge. The intricacies of this process can greatly affect the overall security and efficiency of the cryptosystem, reflecting security vulnerabilities observed in many existing schemes that utilize ElGamal ECC-based encryption. In this paper, we introduce an innovative hash-based technique for securely embedding messages into EC points before encryption. A random parameter and a shared secret point generated through the EC Diffie–Hellman protocol are used to bolster the scheme's security. The security of the proposed method is evaluated against various attack models; moreover, the complexity, and sensitivity of the encryption scheme, as well as its inputs, are analyzed. The randomness assessment of the ciphertext was performed using the NIST statistical test suite. Additionally, we propose a mechanism to ensure the integrity of the message by securely appending a tag to the ciphertext. As a consequence, a comprehensive analysis of our scheme demonstrates its effectiveness in maintaining data security and integrity against various attack models. The algorithm also meets more criteria such as the strict avalanche criterion, linear complexity, and operability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in quantum computers may pose a significant threat to existing public-key encryption methods, which are crucial to the current infrastructure of cyber security. Both RSA and ECDSA, the two most widely used security algorithms today, may be (in principle) solved by the Shor algorithm in polynomial time due to its ability to efficiently solve the discrete logarithm problem, potentially making present infrastructures insecure against a quantum attack. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reacted with the post-quantum cryptography (PQC) standardization process to develop and optimize a series of post-quantum algorithms (PQAs) based on difficult mathematical problems that are not susceptible to being solved by Shor's algorithm. Whilst high-powered computers can run these PQAs efficiently, further work is needed to investigate and benchmark the performance of these algorithms on lower-powered (constrained) devices and the ease with which they may be integrated into existing protocols such as TLS. This paper provides quantitative benchmark and handshake performance data for the most recently selected PQAs from NIST, tested on a Raspberry Pi 4 device to simulate today's IoT (Internet of Things) devices, and provides quantitative comparisons with previous benchmarking data on a range of constrained systems. CRYSTALS-Kyber and CRYSTALS-Dilithium are shown to be the most efficient PQAs in the key encapsulation and signature algorithms, respectively, with Falcon providing the optimal TLS handshake size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biometric authentication methods offer high-quality mechanisms to confirm the identity of individuals in security systems commonly used in the modern world, such as physical access control, online banking, or mobile device unlocking. They also find their application in cryptographic solutions, which allow the biometrically authenticated exchange of cryptographic keys between users and services on the internet, despite the fuzziness of biometric data. Such solutions are BAKE (biometrics-authenticated key exchange) and BRAKE (biometric-resilient authenticated key exchange) protocols, upon which our work is based. However, the direct application of fuzzy biometrics in cryptography, which relies heavily on the accuracy of single-bit secret values, is not trivial. Therefore, this paper is devoted to analyzing the security of this idea and the feasibility of implementing biometric AKE (authenticated key exchange) protocols, with an emphasis on the BRAKE protocol. As the results of our analysis, we discuss BRAKE's limitations and vulnerabilities, which need to be appropriately addressed to implement the protocol in modern systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent evaluations of counter-based periodic testing strategies for fault detection in Microprocessor (μP) have shown that only a small set of counters is needed to provide complete coverage of severe faults. Severe faults are defined as faults that leak sensitive information, e.g., an encryption key on the output of a serial port. Alternatively, fault detection can be accomplished by executing instructions that periodically test the control and functional units of the μP. In this paper, we propose a fault detection method that utilizes an 'engineered' executable program combined with a small set of strategically placed counters in pursuit of a hardware Periodic Built-In-Self-Test (PBIST). We analyze two distinct methods for generating such a binary; the first uses an Automatic Test Generation Pattern (ATPG)-based methodology, and the second uses a process whereby existing counter-based node-monitoring infrastructure is utilized. We show that complete fault coverage of all leakage faults is possible using relatively small binaries with low latency to fault detection and by utilizing only a few strategically placed counters in the μP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of codes defined by sparse characteristic matrices, like QC-LDPC and QC-MDPC codes, has become an established solution to design secure and efficient code-based public-key encryption schemes, as also witnessed by the ongoing NIST post-quantum cryptography standardization process. However, similar approaches have been less fortunate in the context of code-based digital signatures, since no secure and efficient signature scheme based on these codes is available to date. The main limitation of previous attempts in this line of research has been the use of sparse signatures, which produces some leakage of information about the private key. In this paper, we propose a new code-based digital signature scheme that overcomes such a problem by publishing signatures that are abnormally dense, rather than sparse. This eliminates the possibility of deducing information from the sparsity of signatures, and follows a recent trend in code-based cryptography exploiting the hardness of the decoding problem for large-weight vectors, instead of its classical version based on small-weight vectors. We focus on one-time use and provide a first parameterization of the new scheme, the main advantages of which are very fast signature generation and verification, and public keys that are not too large for a code-based signature scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To address the issue of low efficiency caused by the repeated use of quantum attack resistant static identity authentication methods in a satellite integrated smart grid, this paper proposes a quantum attack resistant continuous identity authentication protocol. First, in the initial authentication stage, in order to reduce computational complexity, the key encryption mechanism in the CRYSTALS‐Kyber algorithm was improved and combined with the NTRU message recovery digital signature scheme to construct a lattice based explicit AKE (Kyber NTRU. AKE), which achieved mutual authentication and negotiated shared tokens. Second, in the continuous authentication stage, incorporating quantum attack resistant tokens into the current algorithm to improve authentication efficiency. The formal analysis results indicate that compared to the weakly forward secure Kyber.AKE in the CRYSTALS‐Kyber algorithm, Kyber‐NTRU.AKE achieves complete forward secrecy, while the non‐formal analysis results demonstrate the security of the continuous authentication phase. Through theoretical analysis and efficiency comparison with Cyber.AKE, the analysis shows that the Cyber‐NTRU.AKE has higher computational and communication efficiency than Cyber.AKE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]