Stefan Lucks
Encyclopedia
Stefan Lucks is a researcher in the fields of communications security
and cryptography
. Lucks is known for his attack on Triple DES
, and for extending Lars Knudsen
's Square attack to Twofish
, a cipher outside the Square
family, thus generalising the attack into integral cryptanalysis
. He has also co-authored attacks on AES
, LEVIATHAN
, and the E0
cipher used in Bluetooth
devices, as well as publishing strong password-based key agreement schemes.
Lucks graduated from the University of Dortmund in 1992, and received his PhD at the Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen
in 1997.
After leaving the University of Mannheim
Lucks now heads the Chair of Media Security at Bauhaus-University Weimar.
Together with Niels Ferguson
, Bruce Schneier
and others he developed the Skein
hash function as a candidate for the NIST hash function competition
.
Communications security
Communications security is the discipline of preventing unauthorized interceptors from accessing telecommunications in an intelligible form, while still delivering content to the intended recipients. In the United States Department of Defense culture, it is often referred to by the abbreviation...
and cryptography
Cryptography
Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...
. Lucks is known for his attack on Triple DES
Triple DES
In cryptography, Triple DES is the common name for the Triple Data Encryption Algorithm block cipher, which applies the Data Encryption Standard cipher algorithm three times to each data block....
, and for extending Lars Knudsen
Lars Knudsen
Lars Ramkilde Knudsen is a Danish researcher in cryptography, particularly interested in the design and analysis of block ciphers, hash functions and message authentication codes .-Academic:...
's Square attack to Twofish
Twofish
In cryptography, Twofish is a symmetric key block cipher with a block size of 128 bits and key sizes up to 256 bits. It was one of the five finalists of the Advanced Encryption Standard contest, but was not selected for standardisation...
, a cipher outside the Square
Square (cipher)
In cryptography, Square is a block cipher invented by Joan Daemen and Vincent Rijmen. The design, published in 1997, is a forerunner to the Rijndael algorithm, which has been adopted as the Advanced Encryption Standard...
family, thus generalising the attack into integral cryptanalysis
Integral cryptanalysis
In cryptography, integral cryptanalysis is a cryptanalytic attack that is particularly applicable to block ciphers based on substitution-permutation networks. It was originally designed by Lars Knudsen as a dedicated attack against Square, so is commonly known as the Square attack. It was also...
. He has also co-authored attacks on AES
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...
, LEVIATHAN
LEVIATHAN (cipher)
LEVIATHAN is a stream cipher submitted to NESSIE by Scott Fluhrer and David McGrew. It is a seekable stream cipher, which means that the user may efficiently skip forward to any part of the keystream, much like CTR mode or Salsa20, but unlike those ciphers generating contiguous blocks of the...
, and the E0
E0 (cipher)
E0 is a stream cipher used in the Bluetooth protocol. It generates a sequence of pseudorandom numbers and combines it with the data using the XOR operator. The key length may vary, but is generally 128 bits.-Description:...
cipher used in Bluetooth
Bluetooth
Bluetooth is a proprietary open wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks with high levels of security...
devices, as well as publishing strong password-based key agreement schemes.
Lucks graduated from the University of Dortmund in 1992, and received his PhD at the Georg-August-Universität, Göttingen
Göttingen
Göttingen is a university town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district of Göttingen. The Leine river runs through the town. In 2006 the population was 129,686.-General information:...
in 1997.
After leaving the University of Mannheim
University of Mannheim
The University of Mannheim is one of the younger German universities. It offers Bachelor, Master, and PhD degrees.The University is mainly located in Mannheim’s palace the largest baroque palace in Germany. The whole city center of Mannheim is aligned symmetrically to the palace.About 800 scholars...
Lucks now heads the Chair of Media Security at Bauhaus-University Weimar.
Together with Niels Ferguson
Niels Ferguson
Niels T. Ferguson is a Dutch cryptographer and consultant who currently works for Microsoft. He has worked with others, including Bruce Schneier, designing cryptographic algorithms, testing algorithms and protocols, and writing papers and books...
, Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier
Bruce Schneier is an American cryptographer, computer security specialist, and writer. He is the author of several books on general security topics, computer security and cryptography, and is the founder and chief technology officer of BT Managed Security Solutions, formerly Counterpane Internet...
and others he developed the Skein
Skein (hash function)
Skein is a cryptographic hash function and one out of five finalists in the NIST hash function competition to design what will become the SHA-3 standard, the intended successor of SHA-1 and SHA-2...
hash function as a candidate for the NIST hash function competition
NIST hash function competition
The NIST hash function competition is an open competition held by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology for a new SHA-3 function to replace the older SHA-1 and SHA-2, which was formally announced in the Federal Register on November 2, 2007...
.