Investigating the Avalanche Effect of Various Cryptographically Secure Hash Functions and Hash-Based Applications

Abstract

In modern cryptography, hash functions are considered as one of the key components for secure communication. They play a vital role in a wide range of applications such as ensuring the authentication and integrity of the data, in forensic investigation, password storage, random number generations for unique session keys, and for creating a unified view in blockchain. The Avalanche effect (also known as diffusion) is an important characteristic of a hash function where a minor change in the hash function's input will result in a significantly different output. The absence of this property implies that the hash function is vulnerable to various attacks such as collision attack, length extension attack, and preimage attack. Through this research, we have investigated the Avalanche effect of sixteen hash functions and two hash-based applications, namely Hash-based Message Authentication Code (HMAC) and Public Key Cryptography Standards (PKCS). To measure the performance of these hash functions and hash-based applications, we have implemented a generic circuit using CrypTool for automating the simulation process for multiple trials. Simulation results indicate that around half of the inputs of each hash function failed to exhibit the Strict Avalanche Criterion (SAC) and, Bit Independence Criterion (BIC). Moreover, we ranked the hash functions based on Multi Criteria Decision Metrics (MCDM) using intermediate states of simulation results. Furthermore, a total of fifteen statistical tests were carried out to evaluate the randomization property of the hash functions using NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) toolkit. This study is aimed to open up a future scope of research to the need for improvement of various hash functions by analyzing the randomization and non-correlation properties of existing functions in terms of the Avalanche effect.

Efficient Braille Transformation for Secure Password Hashing

“…When transforming the string stored in the database into the initial hash, our method of subdividing it into blocks of six digits stands out, assigning each digit from 1 to 6 the Braille symbol corresponding to each letter or digit in the original hash. Furthermore, simplifying the remaining digits (7,8,9) by substituting zeros proves to be an effective strategy, eliminating any possibility of confusion or inconsistency. Our next step, involving the correlation between the Braille code and its representation according to a defined table, provides an unambiguous methodology.…”

“…Furthermore, password attacks have become commonplace in the present era, with cybercriminals employing sophisticated methods like brute force attacks, statistical attacks, and dictionary attacks to compromise systems and gain access to user accounts. Password hashes, which represent strings generated from passwords, were once considered an effective security measure [6][7][8][9][10]. However, with technological advances, attackers have successfully exploited weaknesses in traditional hashing algorithms, underscoring the urgent need to find more robust and innovative solutions to secure passwords.…”

Attack Analysis on Hybrid-SIMON-SPECKey Lightweight Cryptographic Algorithm for IoT Applications

“…Attack analysis in the context of lightweight cryptography focuses on assessing the security and vulnerability of cryptographic algorithms when deployed in these constrained environments. Such analysis is essential to identify potential weaknesses and susceptibilities that adversaries might exploit (9,10) . By understanding the attack vectors and the extent to which an algorithm can withstand various forms of attacks, researchers and practitioners can make informed decisions about the suitability of a cryptographic solution for their specific use cases (11) .…”

Multilayer Convolutional Processing Network Based Cryptography Mechanism for Digital Images Infosecurity

“…When encrypted, an image is only accessible to the specific authorized users using the secret keys, including asymmetric and symmetric cryptography methods. To protect security and privacy for digital images, previous studies [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] have designed the symmetric cryptography scheme to perform permutation, substitution, or shift operations for the encryption and decryption tasks, such as the permutation method (PM), the diffusion method (DM), or the combination of both methods, which have been used for digital signals and images encryption processes. In the PM-based encryption algorithms, the Arnold map and one-dimensional (1D) and multi-dimensional chaotic maps [12][13][14][15][16][17]19,[22][23][24] are well-known cryptography schemes to support symmetrical encryption processes.…”