Anubis Encryption: Understanding the Key Concepts | 2023
Understand the Basics of Anubis Encryption | Karthikeyan Nagaraj
In the modern era of technology, data protection, and privacy have become top priorities for individuals and organizations.
Encryption is one of the most common ways to ensure data protection, and Anubis encryption is a relatively new algorithm that has gained popularity in recent years.
In this section, we will explore the key concepts of Anubis encryption, including its history, design, and security.
History of Anubis Encryption
- Anubis encryption is a symmetric key block cipher that was designed by Vincent Rijmen in 2006.
- Rijmen is a renowned cryptographer who is also known for designing the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
- Anubis was created as an alternative to the AES encryption algorithm, which was at the time the most widely used encryption algorithm.
- The idea was to create an algorithm that could offer similar security but with better performance and a smaller code size.
Anubis Design
- Anubis encryption is a 128-bit block cipher with a variable key size of 128, 160, 192, 224, or 256 bits.
- It uses a substitution-permutation network (SPN) design with eight rounds of processing.
- Anubis has a key schedule that generates a set of round keys based on the original key.
- These round keys are used in each round of processing to encrypt or decrypt the data.
- In each round, Anubis uses three main components: substitution boxes (S-boxes), permutation layers, and a linear transformation.
- The S-boxes are used to substitute the input data with a different value. The permutation layers rearrange the order of the input data.
- Finally, the linear transformation uses multiplication in a finite field to mix the data.
Security of Anubis Encryption
- Anubis encryption has undergone rigorous testing and analysis to evaluate its security.
- One of the most important tests is the Cryptographic Algorithm Validation Program (CAVP) conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in the United States.
- Anubis has passed all CAVP tests, including the ones for the AES candidate algorithm.
- Anubis also has several security features that make it resistant to various types of attacks.
- One of these features is the use of a large number of rounds.
- Anubis uses eight rounds of processing, which is more than some other popular encryption algorithms such as Blowfish and Triple DES.
- This makes it harder for attackers to break the encryption using brute-force attacks.
Anubis also has a strong key schedule that ensures that the round keys are generated from the original key in a secure manner.
This prevents attackers from being able to deduce the key from the round keys.
Additionally, Anubis has a high diffusion rate, meaning that a small change in the input data results in a significant change in the output data. This makes it harder for attackers to use known plaintext attacks.
Conclusion
- Anubis encryption is a powerful and secure encryption algorithm that offers a great alternative to the AES algorithm. Its design, which includes the use of S-boxes, permutation layers, and a linear transformation, makes it resistant to various types of attacks.
- Anubis has undergone rigorous testing and analysis and has passed all CAVP tests.
- This, combined with its high diffusion rate, makes it an excellent choice for data protection and privacy.
