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Applied Cryptography

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<B>Applied Cryptography, Second Edition: Protocols,  Algorthms, and Source Code in C (cloth)</B>
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<I>(Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.)</I>
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Author(s): Bruce Schneier
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ISBN: 0471128457
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Publication Date: 01/01/96
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<!--TITLE=APPLIED CRYPTOGRAPHY, SECOND EDITION: Protocols, Algorithms, and Source Code in C//-->
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<H3><A NAME="Heading12"></A><FONT COLOR="#000077">9.11  Choosing a Cipher Mode</FONT></H3>
<P>If simplicity and speed are your main concerns, ECB is the easiest and fastest mode to use a block cipher. It is also the weakest. Besides being vulnerable to replay attacks, an algorithm in ECB mode is the easiest to cryptanalyze. I don&#146;t recommend ECB for message encryption.
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<P>For encrypting random data, such as other keys, ECB is a good mode to use. Since the data is short and random, none of the shortcomings of ECB matter for this application.</P>
<P>For normal plaintext, use CBC, CFB, or OFB. Which mode you choose depends on your specific requirements. Table 9.1 gives a summary of the security and efficiency of the various modes.</P>
<P>CBC is generally best for encrypting files. The increase in security is significant; and while there are sometimes bit errors in stored data, there are almost never synchronization errors. If your application is software-based, CBC is almost always the best choice.</P>
<CENTER><CAPTION COLSPAN="2"><B>Table 9.1<BR>Summary of Block Cipher Modes</B>
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<TD COLSPAN="2" VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT">ECB:
<TD COLSPAN="2" VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT">CBC:
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<TD VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="5%" ALIGN="LEFT">
<TD WIDTH="45%" ALIGN="LEFT"><B><I>Security</I>:</B>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" WIDTH="5%" ALIGN="LEFT">
<TD WIDTH="45%" ALIGN="LEFT"><B><I>Security</I>:</B>
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- Plaintext patterns are not concealed.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; Plaintext patterns are concealed by XORing with previous ciphertext block.
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- Input to the block cipher is not randomized; it is the same as the plaintext.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43;Input to the block cipher is randomized by XORing with the previous ciphertext block.
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43;More than one message can be encrypted with the same key.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; More than one message can be encrypted with the same key.
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<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- Plaintext is easy to manipulate, blocks can be removed, repeated, or interchanged.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43;/- Plaintext is somewhat difficult to manipulate; blocks can be removed from the beginning and end of the message, bits of the first block can be changed, and repetition allows some controlled changes.
<TR>
<TD WIDTH="5%" ALIGN="LEFT">
<TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT"><B><I>Efficiency</I>:</B>
<TD WIDTH="5%" ALIGN="LEFT">
<TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT"><B><I>Efficiency</I>:</B>
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; Speed is the same as the block cipher.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; Speed is the same as the block cipher.
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">Ciphertext is up to one block longer than the plaintext, due to padding.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- Ciphertext is up to one block longer than the plaintext, not counting the IV.
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- No preprocessing is possible.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- No preprocessing is possible.
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<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; Processing is parallelizable.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43;/- Encryptions not parallelizable; decryption is parallelizable and has a random-access property.
<TR>
<TD WIDTH="5%" ALIGN="LEFT">
<TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT"><B><I>Fault-tolerance</I>:</B>
<TD WIDTH="5%" ALIGN="LEFT">
<TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT"><B><I>Fault-tolerance</I>:</B>
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<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- A ciphertext error affects one full block of plaintext.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- A ciphertext error affects one full block of plaintext and the corresponding bit in the next block.
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- Synchronization error  is unrecoverable.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- Synchronization error is unrecoverable.
<TR>
<TD COLSPAN="4"><HR>
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">CFB:
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">OFB/Counter:
<TR>
<TD WIDTH="5%" ALIGN="LEFT">
<TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT"><B><I>Security</I>:</B>
<TD WIDTH="5%" ALIGN="LEFT">
<TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT"><B><I>Security</I>:</B>
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; Plaintext patterns are concealed.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; Plaintext patterns are concealed.
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; Input to the block cipher is randomized.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; Input to the block cipher is randomized.
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; More than one message can be encrypted with the same key provided that a different IV is used.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; More than one message can be encrypted with the same key, provided that a different IV is used.
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43;/- Plaintext is somewhat difficult to manipulate;blocks can be removed from the beginning and end of the message, bits of the first block can be changed, and repetition allows some controlled changes.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- Plaintext is very easy to manipulate, any change in ciphertext directly affects the plaintext.
<TR>
<TD WIDTH="5%" ALIGN="LEFT">
<TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT"><B><I>Efficiency</I>:</B>
<TD WIDTH="5%" ALIGN="LEFT">
<TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT"><B><I>Efficiency</I>:</B>
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; Speed is the same as the block cipher.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; Speed is the same as the block cipher.
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<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- Ciphertext is the same size as the plaintext, not counting the IV.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- Ciphertext is the same size as the plaintext, not counting the IV.
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<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43;/- Encryption is not parallelizable; decryption is parallelizable and has a random-access property.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; Processing is possible before the message is seen.
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<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- Some preprocessing is possible before a block is seen; the previous ciphertext block can be encrypted.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">-/&#43; OFB processing is not parallelizable; counter processing is parallelizable.
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<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43;/- Encryption is not parallelizable; decryption is parallelizable and has a random-access property.
<TR>
<TD WIDTH="5%" ALIGN="LEFT">
<TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT"><B><I>Fault-tolerance</I>:</B>
<TD WIDTH="5%" ALIGN="LEFT">
<TD VALIGN="TOP" ALIGN="LEFT"><B><I>Fault-tolerance</I>:</B>
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">- A ciphertext error affects the corresponding bit of plaintext and the next full block.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43; A ciphertext error affects only the corresponding bit of plaintext.
<TR>
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">&#43;Synchronization errors of full block sizes are recoverable. 1-bit CFB can recover from the addition or loss of single bits.
<TD VALIGN="TOP" COLSPAN="2" ALIGN="LEFT">-Synchronization error is unrecoverable.
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