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‘972, 10:56 aM ‘The DES Algorithm Ilusvated
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The DES Algorithm Illustrated
by J. Orlin Grabbe
The DES (Data Encryption Standard) algorithm is the most widely used encryption
algorithm in the world. For many years, and among many people, "secret code making"
and DES have been synonymous. And despite the recent coup by the Electronic Frontier
Foundation in creating a $220,000 machine to crack DES-encrypted messages, DES will
live on in government and banking for years to come through a life- extending version
called "triple-DES.”
How does DES work? This article explains the various steps involved in DES-
encryption, illustrating each step by means of a simple example. Since the creation of
DES, many other algorithms (recipes for changing data) have emerged which are based
on design principles similar to DES. Once you understand the basic transformations that
take place in DES, you will find it easy to follow the steps involved in these more recent
algorithms.
But first a bit of history of how DES came about is appropriate, as well as a look toward
the future,
The National Bureau of Standards Coaxes the Genie from the Bottle
On May 15, 1973, during the reign of Richard Nixon, the National Bureau of Standards
(NBS) published a notice in the Federal Register soliciting proposals for cryptographic
algorithms to protect data during transmission and storage. The notice explained why
encryption was an important issue.
Over the last decade, there has been an accelerating increase in the
accumulations and communication of digital data by government, industry
and by other organizations in the private sector. The contents of these
communicated and stored data often have very significant value and/or
sensitivity. It is now common to find data transmissions which constitute
funds transfers of several million dollars, purchase or sale of securities,
warrants for arrests or arrest and conviction records being communicated
between law enforcement agencies, airline reservations and ticketing
representing investment and value both to the airline and passengers, and
health and patient care records transmitted among physicians and treatment
centers,
The increasing volume, value and confidentiality of these records regularly
transmitted and stored by commercial and government agencies has led to
heightened recognition and concer over their exposures to unauthorized
access and use, This misuse can be in the form of theft or defalcations of
data records representing money, malicious modification of business
inventories or the interception and misuse of confidential information about
people. The need for protection is then apparent and urgent.
It is recognized that encryption (otherwise known as scrambling,
enciphering or privacy transformation) represents the only means of
protecting such data during transmission and a useful means of protecting
hitpipege.mathtu-bein da-kantReachingthesikryptows2006\des.him sis‘972, 10:56 aM
“The DES Agorthm istated
the content of data stored on various media, providing encryption of
adequate strength can be devised and validated and is inherently integrable
into system architecture, The National Bureau of Standards solicits proposed
techniques and algorithms for computer data encryption. The Bureau also
solicits recommended techniques for implementing the cryptographic
function: for generating, evaluating, and protecting cryptographic keys; for
maintaining files encoded under expiring keys; for making partial updates to
encrypted files; and mixed clear and encrypted data to permit labelling,
polling, routing, etc. The Bureau in its role for establishing standards and
aiding government and industry in assessing technology, will arrange for the
evaluation of protection methods in order to prepare guidelines.
NBS waited for the responses to come in. It received none until August 6, 1974, three
days before Nixon's resignation, when IBM submitted a candidate that it had developed
internally under the name LUCIFER. After evaluating the algorithm with the help of the
National Security Agency (NSA), the NBS adopted a modification of the LUCIFER
algorithm as the new Data Encryption Standard (DES) on July 15, 1977.
DES was quickly adopted for non-digital media, such as voice-grade public telephone
lines. Within a couple of years, for example, International Flavors and Fragrances was
using DES to protect its valuable formulas transmitted over the phone ("With Data
Encryption, Scents Are Safe at IFF," Computerworld 14, No. 21, 95 (1980).)
Meanwhile, the banking industry, which is the largest user of encryption outside
government, adopted DES as a wholesale banking standard. Standards for the wholesale
banking industry are set by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). ANSI
X3.92, adopted in 1980, specified the use of the DES algorithm.
Some Preliminary Examples of DES
DES works on bits, or binary numbers--the 0s and 1s common to digital computers. Each
group of four bits makes up a hexadecimal, or base 16, number. Binary "0001" is equal
to the hexadecimal number "1", binary "1000" is equal to the hexadecimal number "8",
"1001" is equal to the hexadecimal number "9", "1010" is equal to the hexadecimal
number "A", and "1111" is equal to the hexadecimal number "F".
DES works by encrypting groups of 64 message bits, which is the same as 16
hexadecimal numbers. To do the encryption, DES uses "keys" where are also apparently
16 hexadecimal numbers long, or apparently 64 bits long. However, every 8th key bit is
ignored in the DES algorithm, so that the effective key size is 56 bits. But, in any case,
{64 bits (16 hexadecimal digits) is the round number upon which DES is organized.
For example, if we take the plaintext message "8787878787878787", and encrypt it with
the DES key "0E329232EA6D0D73", we end up with the ciphertext
"0000000000000000". If the ciphertext is decrypted with the same secret DES key
"0E329232EA6DOD73", the result is the original plaintext "8787878787878787""
This example is neat and orderly because our plaintext was exactly 64 bits long. The
same would be true if the plaintext happened to be a multiple of 64 bits. But most
messages will not fall into this category. They will not be an exact multiple of 64 bits
(that is, an exact multiple of 16 hexadecimal numbers).
For example, take the message "Your lips are smoother than vaseline". This plaintext
message is 38 bytes (76 hexadecimal digits) long. So this message must be padded with
hitpstipage.matytu-brln dai-kantteachinghhasstkyplo-ws2006ides.nim ana‘19722, 1056 aM “The DES Agorthm istated
some extra bytes at the tail end for the encryption. Once the enerypted message has been
decrypted, these extra bytes are thrown away. There are, of course, different padding
schemes--different ways to add extra bytes. Here we will just add 0s at the end, so that
the total message is a multiple of 8 bytes (or 16 hexadecimal digits, or 64 bits.
The plaintext message "Your lips are smoother than vaseline" is, in hexadecimal,
"596F7572206C6970 732061726520736D 6F6F746865722074 686 16E2076617365
6C696E6S0D0A".
(Note here that the first 72 hexadecimal digits represent the English message, while "0D"
is hexadecimal for Carriage Return, and "OA" is hexadecimal for Line Feed, showing
that the message file has terminated.) We then pad this message with some Os on the end,
to get a total of 80 hexadecimal digits:
"596F7572206C6970 732061726520736D 6F6F746865722074 686 16F.2076617365
6C696E650D0A0000".
If we then enerypt this plaintext message 64 bits (16 hexadecimal digits) at a time, using
the same DES key "0F329232EA6DOD73" as before, we get the ciphertext:
"C0999FDDE378D7ED 727DA00BCASA84EE 47F269A4D6438190
9DDS2F78F5358499 828AC9B453E0E6S3"
This is the secret code that can be transmitted or stored. Decrypting the ciphertext
restores the original message "Your lips are smoother than vaseline". (Think how much
better off Bill Clinton would be today, if Monica Lewinsky had used eneryption on her
Pentagon computer!)
How DES Works in Detail
DES is a block cipher--meaning it operates on plaintext blocks of a given size (64-bits)
and retums ciphertext blocks of the same size. Thus DES results in a permutation among,
the 2°64 (read this as: "2 to the 64th power") possible arrangements of 64 bits, each of
which may be either 0 or 1. Each block of 64 bits is divided into two blocks of 32 bits
each, a left half block L and a right half R. (This division is only used in certain
operations.)
Example: Let M be the plain text message M = 0123456789ABCDEF, where M is in
hexadecimal (base 16) format, Rewriting M in binary format, we get the 64-bit block of
text:
M = 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110
ui
L= 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111
R= 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110 1111
The first bit of M is "0".
ast bit is "1", We read from left to right.
DES operates on the 64-bit blocks using key sizes of 56- bits. The keys are actually
stored as being 64 bits long, but every 8th bit in the key is not used (i. bits numbered 8,
16, 24, 32, 40, 48, 56, and 64). However, we will nevertheless number the bits from 1 to
64, going left to right, in the following calculations. But, as you will see, the eight bits
just mentioned get eliminated when we create subkeys.
hitpstipage.matytu-brln dai-kantteachinghhasstkyplo-ws2006ides.nim ana‘922, 1056 aM ‘The DES Algorithm tsrated
Example: Let K be the hexadecimal key K = 133457799BBCDFF1. This gives us as the
binary key (setting 1 = 0001, 3 = 0011, etc., and grouping together every eight bits, of
which the last one in each group will be unused):
K = 00010011 00110100 01010111 01111001 10011011 10111100 11011111 11110001
The DES algorithm uses the following steps:
Step 1: Create 16 subkeys, each of which is 48-bits long.
The 64-bit key is permuted according to the following table, PC-1. Since the first entry
in the table is "57", this means that the 57th bit of the original key K becomes the first bit
of the permuted key K+. The 49th bit of the original key becomes the second bit of the
permuted key. The 4th bit of the original key is the last bit of the permuted key. Note
only 56 bits of the original key appear in the permuted key.
Pc-4
57 49 41 330 25079
1 58 50 42 34 26 18
weo02 59 51 433527
19 11 43 68 52 44 36
63 55 47 39° 312315
7 62 54 46 38 30 22
6 Gl 53 45729
21 0130~«S:Ck ea
Example: From the original 64-bit key
K = 00010011 00110100 01010111 01111001 10011011 10111100 11011111 11110001
wwe get the 56-bit permutation
K+ = 1111000 0110011 6010101 0101111 0101010 1011001 1001111 0001111
Next, split this key into left and right halves, Cp and Dp, where each half has 28 bits.
Example: From the permuted key K+, we get,
Cg= 1111000 0110011 0010101 0101111
Dy= 0101010 1011001 1001111 0001111
With Cp and Dp defined, we now create sixteen blocks C, and Dy, 1<=n<=16. Each pair
of blocks C,, and D,,is formed from the previous pair C,.; and Dy. y, respectively, for m
= 1,2,..., 16, using the following schedule of "left shifts" of the previous block. To do a
left shift, move each bit one place to the left, except for the first bit, which is cycled to
the end of the block.
Iteration _Nunber of
Number Left shifts
hitpstipage.matytu-brln dai~kantteachinghhasstkryplo-ws2006ides.nim ana‘972, 10:56 aM ‘The DES Algorithm Ilusvated
7
8
9
10
1
2
2B
14
15
16
This means, for example, C3 and D; are obtained from C and Dy, respectively, by two
left shifts, and Cy¢ and Djg are obtained from Cys and Dy, respectively, by one left
shift. In all cases, by a single left shift is meant a rotation of the bits one place to the left,
so that after one left shift the bits in the 28 positions are the bits that were previously in
positions 2, 3,..., 28, 1.
Example: From original pair pait Cy and Dg we obtain:
Co = 1111000011001100101010101111
Dg = 0101010101100110011110001111
Cy = 1110000110011001010101011111
D,= 1010101011001100111100011110
Cz = 1100001100110010101010111111
Dy=0101010110011001111000111101
Cz = 00001100110010101010111 11111
D3 = 0101011001100111100011110101
y= 00110011001 01010101 111111100
Dg = 0101100110011110001111010101
Cs = 1100110010101010111111110000
Ds =0110011001111000111101010101
Cg = 0011001010101011111111000011
Dg ~ 1001100111100011110101010101
z= 1100101010101111111100001100
Dz = 0110011110001111010101010110
Cg = 0010101010111111110000110011
Dg = 1001111000111101010101011001
Cy = 0101010101111111100001100110
Dg = 0011110001111010101010110011
Cy = 01010101111111100001 10011001
Djg= 1111000111101010101011001100
hitpstipage.matytu-brln dai-kantteachinghhasstkyplo-ws2006ides.nim sna‘972, 10:56 aM ‘The DES Algorithm Ilusvated
Cyp = 0101011111111000011001100101
Djy = 1100011110101010101100110011
Cyz = 0101111111100001100110010101
D jz = 0001111010101010110011001111
Cyg = 0111111110000110011001010101
D}3= 0111101010101011001100111100
Cyq = 1111111000011001100101010101
D1q= 1110101010101100110011110001
Cys = 1111100001100110010101010111
Dys= 1010101010110011001111000111
Cyg= 1111000011001100101010101111
Djs = 0101010101100110011110001111
‘We now form the keys K,, for 1<=n<=16, by applying the following permutation table to
each of the concatenated pairs C,D,. Each pair has 56 bits, but PC-2 only uses 48 of
these.
Pc-2
“oyu wo 4a Ss
3028 15 6 «2 10
23 19 12 4 2% 8
1607 «(27 (32
4182 31 (374788.
30 48 S1 533 a
44 49395633
46 42 58 362932,
Therefore, the first bit of Ky is the 14th bit of C,D,, the second bit the 17th, and so on,
ending with the 48th bit of K,, being the 32th bit of C,,D,,
Example: For the first key we have CpD, = 1110000 1100110 0101010 1011111
1010101 0110011 0011110 0011110
which, after we apply the permutation PC-2, becomes
Ky = 000110 110000 001011 101111 111111 000111 000001 110010
For the other keys we have
Ky= 011110 011010 111011 011001 110110 111100 100111 100101
K3= 010101 011111 110010 001010 010000 101100 111110 011001
Kg= 011100 101010 110111 010110 110110 110011 010100 011101
Ks = 011111 001110 110000 000111 111010 110101 001110 101000
K= 011000 111010 010100 111110 010100 000111 101100 101111
K;= 111011 001000 010010 110111 111101 100001 100010 111100
Kg= 111101 111000 101000 111010 110000 010011 101111 111011
hitpstipage.matytu-brln dai~kantteachinghhasskyplo-ws2006ides. nim
ana‘972, 10:56 aM
‘The DES Algorithm Ilusvated
Ky = 111000 001101 101111 101011 111011 011110 011110 000001
Kyq= 101100 011111 001101 000111 101110 100100 011001 OOILIT
Kj, = 001000 010101 111111 010011 110111 101101 001110 000110
Ky2= 011101 010111 000111 110101 100101 000110 011111 101001
Kz = 100101 111100 010111 010001 111110 101011 101001 000001
Kyq= 010111 110100 001110 110111 111100 101110 011100 111010
Kjs~= 101111 111001 000110 001101 001111 010011 111100 001010
Kyg~ 110010 110011 110110 001011 000011 100001 011111 110101
So much for the subkeys, Now we look at the message itself.
Step 2: Encode each 64-bit block of data.
There is an initial permutation IP of the 64 bits of the message data M. This rearranges
the bits according to the following table, where the entries in the table show the new
arrangement of the bits from their initial order. The 58th bit of M becomes the first bit of
IP. The SOth bit of M becomes the second bit of IP. The 7th bit of M is the last bit of IP.
Ip
ss se 42 34 26 «18
60 52 44 36028 2012.
62 54 46 38 30 22 14
64 56 48 «403226
57 49 41 330 «(25 179
59 51 43 350 (27 19
61 53 45 (37° «29 kB
63 55 47° (390285
Example: Applying the initial permutation to the block of text M, given previously, we
get
'M = 0000 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 0110 0111 1000 1001 1010 1011 1100 1101 1110
ui
IP = 1100 1100 0000 0000 1100 1100 1111 1111 1111 0000 1010 1010 1111 0000 1010
1010
Here the $8th bit of M is "1", which becomes the first bit of IP. The 50th bit of M is "1",
which becomes the second bit of IP. The 7th bit of M is "0", which becomes the last bit
of IP.
Next divide the permuted block IP into a left half Ly of 32 bits, and a right half Ry of 32
bits.
Example: From IP, we get Ly and Ry
Lq= 1100 1100 0000 0000 1100 1100 1111 1111
Rg= 1111 0000 1010 1010 1111 0000 1010 1010
We now proceed through 16 iterations, for 1<-n<=16, using a function f which operates
on two blocks--a data block of 32 bits and a key K;, of 48 bits--to produce a block of 32
bits. Let + denote XOR addition, (bit-by-bit addition modulo 2). Then for n going
from | to 16 we calculate
hitpstipage.matytu-brln dai-kantteachinghhasstkyplo-ws2006ides.nim
m3‘972, 10:56 aM ‘The DES Algorithm Ilusvated
n= Rpt
Ry = Ly * Ry pK)
This results in a final block, for n= 16, of LygR jg. That is, in each iteration, we take the
right 32 bits of the previous result and make them the left 32 bits of the current step. For
the right 32 bits in the current step, we XOR the left 32 bits of the previous step with the
calculation f.
Example: For n= 1, we have
K,= 000110 110000 001011 101111 111111 000111 000001 110010
L1= Rg = 1111 0000 1010 1010 1111 0000 1010 1010,
Ry = Ly t+ fiRoKp
It remains to explain how the function f works. To calculate f, we first expand each block
Ry-1 rom 32 bits to 48 bits. This is done by using a selection table that repeats some of
the bits in R,,.7 . We'll call the use of this selection table the function E. Thus E(R,.7) has
a 32 bit input block, and a 48 bit output block.
Let E be such that the 48 bits of its output, written as 8 blocks of 6 bits each, are
obtained by selecting the bits in its inputs in order according to the following table:
E BIT-SELECTION TABLE
32001022¢«83 aS
4 5 6 7 8 8
8 9 w@ om 12 2B
2 13014 «1516 17
16 017:«28 «1920
2 21 22 «23 OS
2-25 26 «27, 828
2 293003232
Thus the first three bits of E(R,, ,) are the bits in positions 32, 1 and 2 of R,.7 while the
last 2 bits of E(R,,.1) are the bits in positions 32 and 1.
Example: We calculate E(Rg) from Ry as follows:
Rg = 1111 0000 1010 1010 1111 0000 1010 1010
E(Rp) = 011110 100001 010101 010101 011110 100001 010101 010101
(Note that each block of 4 original bits has been expanded to a block of 6 output bits.)
Next in the f calculation, we XOR the output E(R,.) with the key Ky
Ky + B(Ry.1)-
Example: For Ky , E(Ry), we have
K,= 000110 110000 001011 101111 111111 000111 G00001 110010
E(Rp) = 011110 100001 010101 010101 011110 100001 010101 010101
Ky+E(Rg) = 011000 010001 011110 111010 100001 100110 010100 100111
hitpstipage.matytu-brln dai-kantteachinghhasstkyplo-ws2006ides.nim ana‘19722, 1056 aM “The DES Agorthm istated
We have not yet finished calculating the function f.. To this point we have expanded Ry,
from 32 bits to 48 bits, using the selection table, and XORed the result with the key Ky,
We now have 48 bits, or eight groups of six bits. We now do something strange with each
group of six bits: we use them as addresses in tables called "S boxes". Each group of six
bits will give us an address in a different S box. Located at that address will be a 4 bit
number, This 4 bit number will replace the original 6 bits. The net result is that the eight
groups of 6 bits are transformed into eight groups of 4 bits (the 4-bit outputs from the S
boxes) for 32 bits total.
‘Write the previous result, which is 48 bits, in the form:
K,, + E(Ry.1) =B1B2B;B ,BsB 6B Bs,
where each B; is a group of six bits. We now calculate
SB YS 7BYS3(BYS(BYS (BS 6(BoSAB)S (By)
where $(B) referres to the output of the i-th S box.
To repeat, each of the functions 87, $2y.., 88, takes a 6-bit block as input and yields a 4-
bit block as output. The table to determine S; is shown and explained below:
sa
Column Number
No. @1 23 45 67 8 9 1011 1213 1415
0 144131 215 11 8 310 612 59 07
1 015 7 4 14 2 13 1 106 12211 95 38
2 41 14 8 136 211 1512 97 310 5 0
304512 82 49 17 S11 314 100 613
IFS, is the function defined in this table and B is a block of 6 bits, then $,(B) is
determined as follows: The first and last bits of B represent in base 2 a number in the
decimal range 0 to 3 (or binary 00 to 11). Let that number be , The middle 4 bits of B
represent in base 2 a number in the decimal range 0 to 15 (binary 0000 to 1111). Let that
number be j. Look up in the table the number in the i-th row and j-th column, It is a
number in the range 0 to 15 and is uniquely represented by a 4 bit block. That block is
the output $;(B) of S; for the input B. For example, for input block B = 011011 the first
bit is "0" and the last bit "I" giving 01 as the row. This is row 1. The middle four bits are
"1101". This is the binary equivalent of decimal 13, so the column is column number 13.
In row I, column 13 appears 5. This determines the output; 5 is binary 0101, so that the
output is 0101. Hence $ (011011) = 0101.
The tables defining the functions $7.48 are the following:
si
144 13-1 215 11 8 310 612 59 07
015 7 4 142 13 1 0 6 1211 95 3 8
41148 136 211 1512 9 7 310 5 @
12 82 49 17 511 314 1 @ 613
82
hitpstipage.matytu-brln dai-kantteachinghhasstkyplo-ws2006ides.nim ona‘972, 10:56 aM
10
2B
2B
4
1
2
10
2B
7
2
Example: For the first round, we obtain as the output of the eight $ boxes:
Ky+
S[(B)SYB)S(B)S(BySs(B3)So(B SB 7)S (Bs) = 0101 1100 1000 0010 1011
2
115
1
1
2
un
10
15
a
cry
3B
8
3B
4
4
0101 1001 0111
‘The final stage in the calculation of fis to do a permutation P of the $-box output to
4
3B
2
10
6
2
912
4
1e
2B
14
obtain the final value of f
The permutation P is defined in the following table. P yields a 32-bit output from a 32-
bit input by permuting the
a
B
2
a5
a
14
S=P(S1(B YS 7(By)...S (Bg)
83
s4
10
B
s6
s8
1
4
2
3
2
a
10
2
@
45
2
15
9
5
6
2
L
hitpstipage.matytu-brln dai~kantteachinghhasskryplo-ws2006ides.ntm
‘The DES Algorithm Ilusvated
213
110
2 6
712
R7
222
1a 3
2
14
a
15 10
25
2
15
314
611
10 13
98
of the input block.
45
3
2
10
10
45
14
2
1
E (Ry) = 011000 010001 011110 111010 100001 100110 010100 100111,
son‘972, 10:56 aM ‘The DES Algorithm Ilusvated
Pp
16 7 20 2
29 12 28 7
1 15 23 26
5 18 31 10
2 8 24 14
320273098
19 1 38 6
22 11 4 25
Example: From the output of the eight S boxes:
5 (B )S7(B)S3(B3)S(ByS5(B)S (BS AB7)S¢(Bs) = 0101 1100 1000 0010 1011
0101 1001 0111
we get
f= 0010 0011 0100 1010 1010 1001 1011 1011,
Ry Lg + fiRo Ky)
= 1100 1100 0000 0000 1100 1100 1111 L111
+0010 0011 0100 1010 1010 1001 1011 1011
= 1110 1111 0100 1010 0110 0101 0100 0100
In the next round, we will have Ly = Ry, which is the block we just calculated, and then
culate Ry =L7 +f(R}, Kz), and so on for 16 rounds. At the end of the
sixteenth round we have the blocks L 7g and Rg, We then reverse the order of the two
blocks into the 64-bit block
we must
Rihis
and apply a final permutation IP"! as defined by the following table:
qt
40 «8 48 «16 S624 «6a 32
39°°«7: a7 SSS 233
3B 6 646 (14542238
3705S 53 SB B29
36004 aad 52 20 2B
35 002«3:« «43 S59 27
B40«2 a2 oe 501k 5B 26
3300«21: Oat 4975725
That is, the output of the algorithm has bit 40 of the preoutput block as its first bit, bit 8
as its second bit, and so on, until bit 25 of the preoutput block is the last bit of the output.
Example: If we process all 16 blocks using the method defined previously, we get, on
the 16th round,
14g = 0100 0011 0100 0010 0011 0010 0011 0100
Ry6= 0000 1010 0100 1100 1101 1001 1001 0101
We reverse the order of these two blocks and apply the final permutation to
hitpstipage.matytu-brln dai-kantteachinghhasstkyplo-ws2006ides.nim nna‘972, 10:56 aM ‘The DES Algorithm Ilusvated
Ry 6L-16 = 00001010 01001100 11011001 10010101 01000011 01000010 00110010
00110100
IP? = 10000101 11101000 00010011 01010100 00001111 00001010 10110100
00000101
which in hexadecimal format is
85E813540F0AB405.
This is the encrypted form of M = 0123456789ABCDEF: namely, C =
85E813S40F0AB405.
Decryption is simply the inverse of encryption, follwing the same steps as above, but
reversing the order in which the subkeys are applied.
DES Modes of Operation
The DES algorithm tums a 64-bit message block M into a 64-bit cipher block C. If each
64-bit block is enerypted individually, then the mode of encryption is called Electronic
Code Book (ECB) mode, There are two other modes of DES encryption, namely Chain
Block Coding (CBC) and Cipher Feedback (CFB), which make each cipher block
dependent on all the previous messages blocks through an initial XOR operation.
Cracking DES
Before DES was adopted as a national standard, during the period NBS was soliciting
comments on the proposed algorithm, the creators of public key cryptography, Martin
Hellman and Whitfield Diffie, registered some objections to the use of DES as an
encryption algorithm, Hellman wrote: "Whit Diffie and I have become concemed that the
proposed data encryption standard, while probably secure against commercial assault,
may be extremely vulnerable to attack by an intelligence organization" (letter to NBS,
October 22, 1975).
Diffie and Hellman then outlined a "brute force” attack on DES. (By "brute force" is
‘meant that you try as many of the 2°56 possible keys as you have (o before decrypting
the ciphertext into a sensible plaintext message.) They proposed a special purpose
“parallel computer using one million chips to try one million keys each" per second, and
estimated the cost of such a machine at $20 million,
Fast forward to 1998. Under the direction of John Gilmore of the EFF, a team spent
$220,000 and built a machine that can go through the entire 56-bit DES key space in an
average of 4.5 days. On July 17, 1998, they announced they had cracked a 56-bit key in
56 hours. The computer, called Deep Crack, uses 27 boards each containing 64 chips,
and is capable of testing 90 billion keys a second.
Despite this, as recently as June 8, 1998, Robert Litt, principal associate deputy attomey
general at the Department of Justice, denied it was possible for the FBI to crack DES:
Let me put the technical problem in context: Tt took 14,000 Pentium computers working
for four months to decrypt a single message . ... We are not just talking FBI and NSA
[needing massive computing power], we are talking about every police department."
Responded cryptograpy expert Bruce Schneier: ". . . the FBI is either incompetent or
lying, or both.” Schneier went on to say: "The only solution here is to pick an algorithm
hitpstipage.matytu-brln dai-kantteachinghhasstkyplo-ws2006ides.nim yaa‘19722, 1056 aM “The DES Agorthm istated
with a longer key; there isn’t enough silicon in the galaxy or enough time before the sun
burns out to brute- force triple-DES" (Crypto-Gram, Counterpane Systems, August 15,
1998).
Triple-DES
‘Triple-DES is just DES with two 56-bit keys applied. Given a plaintext message, the first
key is used to DES- encrypt the message. The second key is used to DES-decrypt the
encrypted message. (Since the second key is not the right key, this decryption just
serambles the data further.) The twice-scrambled message is then encrypted again with
the first key to yield the final ciphertext. This three-step procedure is called triple-DES
Triple-DES is just DES done three times with two keys used in a particular order.
(Triple-DES can also be done with three separate keys instead of only two. In either case
the resultant key space is about 24112.)
General References
"Cryptographic Algorithms for Protection of Computer Data During Transmission and
Dormant Storage," Federal Register 38, No. 93 (May 15, 1973)
Data Encryption Standard, Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication
46, National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington D.C.
(Ganuary 1977).
Carl H. Meyer and Stephen M. Matyas, Cryptography: A New Dimension in Computer
Data Security, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1982.
Dorthy Elizabeth Robling Denning, Cryptography and Data Security, Addison-Wesley
Publishing Company, Reading, Massachusetts, 1982.
D.W. Davies and W.L. Price, Security for Computer Networks: An Introduction to Data
Security in Teleprocessing and Electronics Funds Transfer, Second Edition, John Wiley
& Sons, New York, 1984, 1989.
Miles E. Smid and Dennis K. Branstad, "The Data Encryption Standard: Past and
Future," in Gustavus J. Simmons, ed., Contemporary Cryptography: The Science of
Information Integrity, IEEE Press, 1992.
Douglas R. Stinson, Cryptography: Theory and Practice, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1995.
Bruce Schneier, Applied Cryptography, Second Edition, John Wiley & Sons, New York,
1996.
Alfred J. Menezes, Paul C. van Oorschot, and Scott A. Vanstone, Handbook of Applied
Cryptography, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 1997.
30-
‘This article appeared in Laissez Faire City Times, Vol 2, No. 28.
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