Anubis (cipher)
Encyclopedia
Anubis is a block cipher
designed by Vincent Rijmen
and Paulo S. L. M. Barreto
as an entrant in the NESSIE
project. Anubis operates on data blocks of 128 bits, accepting keys of length 32N bits (N = 4, ..., 10).
The cipher is not patented and has been released by the designers for free public use.
Anubis is a Rijndael
variant that uses involutions for the various operations. An involution is an operation whose inverse is the same as the forward operation. In other words, when an involution is run twice, it is the same as performing no operation. This allows low-cost hardware and compact software implementations to use the same operations for both encryption and decryption. Both the S-box
and the mix columns operations are involutions.
There are two versions of the Anubis cipher; the original implementation uses a pseudo-random S-box. Subsequently, the S-box was modified to be more efficient to implement in hardware; the newer version of Anubis is called the "tweaked" version.
It is named after the Egyptian
god of entombing and embalming, which the designers interpreted to include encryption
. They claim that violators of the cipher will be curse
d.
Block cipher
In cryptography, a block cipher is a symmetric key cipher operating on fixed-length groups of bits, called blocks, with an unvarying transformation. A block cipher encryption algorithm might take a 128-bit block of plaintext as input, and output a corresponding 128-bit block of ciphertext...
designed by Vincent Rijmen
Vincent Rijmen
Vincent Rijmen is a Belgian cryptographer and one of the two designers of the Rijndael, the Advanced Encryption Standard. Rijmen is also the co-designer of the WHIRLPOOL cryptographic hash function, and the block ciphers Anubis, KHAZAD, Square, NOEKEON and SHARK.In 1993, Rijmen obtained a degree...
and Paulo S. L. M. Barreto
Paulo S. L. M. Barreto
Paulo S. L. M. Barreto is a Brazilian cryptographer and one of the designers of the Whirlpool hash function and the block ciphers Anubis and KHAZAD, together with Vincent Rijmen...
as an entrant in the NESSIE
NESSIE
NESSIE was a European research project funded from 2000–2003 to identify secure cryptographic primitives. The project was comparable to the NIST AES process and the Japanese Government-sponsored CRYPTREC project, but with notable differences from both...
project. Anubis operates on data blocks of 128 bits, accepting keys of length 32N bits (N = 4, ..., 10).
The cipher is not patented and has been released by the designers for free public use.
Anubis is a Rijndael
Advanced Encryption Standard
Advanced Encryption Standard is a specification for the encryption of electronic data. It has been adopted by the U.S. government and is now used worldwide. It supersedes DES...
variant that uses involutions for the various operations. An involution is an operation whose inverse is the same as the forward operation. In other words, when an involution is run twice, it is the same as performing no operation. This allows low-cost hardware and compact software implementations to use the same operations for both encryption and decryption. Both the S-box
Substitution box
In cryptography, an S-Box is a basic component of symmetric key algorithms which performs substitution. In block ciphers, they are typically used to obscure the relationship between the key and the ciphertext — Shannon's property of confusion...
and the mix columns operations are involutions.
There are two versions of the Anubis cipher; the original implementation uses a pseudo-random S-box. Subsequently, the S-box was modified to be more efficient to implement in hardware; the newer version of Anubis is called the "tweaked" version.
It is named after the Egyptian
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
god of entombing and embalming, which the designers interpreted to include encryption
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
. They claim that violators of the cipher will be curse
Curse
A curse is any expressed wish that some form of adversity or misfortune will befall or attach to some other entity—one or more persons, a place, or an object...
d.