Pseudo-random functions and parallelizable modes of operations of a block cipher

This paper considers the construction and analysis of pseudo-random functions (PRFs) with specific reference to modes of operations of a block cipher. In the context of message authentication codes (MACs), earlier independent work by Bernstein and Vaudenay show how to reduce the analysis of relevant PRFs to some probability calculations. In the first part of the paper, we revisit this result and use it to prove a general result on constructions which use a PRF with a "small" domain to build a PRF with a "large" domain. This result is used to analyse two new parallelizable PRFs which are suitable for use as MAC schemes. The first scheme, called iPMAC, is based on a block cipher and improves upon the well-known PMAC algorithm. The improvements consist in faster masking operations and the removal of a design stage discrete logarithm computation. The second scheme, called VPMAC, uses a keyed compression function rather than a block cipher. The only previously known comp...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: TIT
• Authors: Palash Sarkar
• Keywords: Analysis, Block Cipher, Compression Function, Education, TIT 2010