CRYPTREC

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CRYPTREC is the Cryptography Research and Evaluation Committees set up by the Japanese Government to evaluate and recommend cryptographic techniques for government and industrial use. It is comparable in many respects to the European Union's NESSIE project and to the Advanced Encryption Standard process run by National Institute of Standards and Technology in the U.S.

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Comparison with NESSIE

There is some overlap, and some conflict, between the NESSIE selections and the CRYPTREC draft recommendations. Both efforts include some of the best cryptographers in the world[ citation needed ] therefore conflicts in their selections and recommendations should be examined with care. For instance, CRYPTREC recommends several 64 bit block ciphers while NESSIE selected none, but CRYPTREC was obliged by its terms of reference to take into account existing standards and practices, while NESSIE was not. Similar differences in terms of reference account for CRYPTREC recommending at least one stream cipher, RC4, while the NESSIE report specifically said that it was notable that they had not selected any of those considered. RC4 is widely used in the SSL/TLS protocols; nevertheless, CRYPTREC recommended that it only be used with 128-bit keys. Essentially the same consideration led to CRYPTREC's inclusion of 160-bit message digest algorithms, despite their suggestion that they be avoided in new system designs. Also, CRYPTREC was unusually careful to examine variants and modifications of the techniques, or at least to discuss their care in doing so; this resulted in particularly detailed recommendations regarding them.

Background and sponsors

CRYPTREC includes members from Japanese academia, industry, and government. It was started in May 2000 by combining efforts from several agencies who were investigating methods and techniques for implementing 'e-Government' in Japan. Presently, it is sponsored by

Responsibilities

It is also the organization that provides technical evaluation and recommendations concerning regulations that implement Japanese laws. Examples include the Electronic Signatures and Certification Services (Law 102 of FY2000, taking effect as from April 2001), the Basic Law on the Formulation of an Advanced Information and Telecommunications Network Society of 2000 (Law 144 of FY2000), and the Public Individual Certification Law of December 2002. Furthermore, CRYPTEC has responsibilities with regard to the Japanese contribution to the ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC27 standardization effort.

Selection

In the first release in 2003, [1] many Japanese ciphers were selected for the "e-Government Recommended Ciphers List": CIPHERUNICORN-E (NEC), Hierocrypt-L1 (Toshiba), and MISTY1 (Mitsubishi Electric) as 64 bit block ciphers, Camellia (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, Mitsubishi Electric), CIPHERUNICORN-A (NEC), Hierocrypt-3 (Toshiba), and SC2000 (Fujitsu) as 128 bit block ciphers, and finally MUGI and MULTI-S01 (Hitachi) as stream ciphers.

In the revised release of 2013, [2] the list was divided into three: "e-Government Recommended Ciphers List", "Candidate Recommended Ciphers List", and "Monitored Ciphers List". Most of the Japanese ciphers listed in the previous list (except for Camellia) have moved from the "Recommended Ciphers List" to the "Candidate Recommended Ciphers List". There were several new proposals, such as CLEFIA (Sony) as a 128 bit block cipher as well as KCipher-2 (KDDI) and Enocoro-128v2 (Hitachi) as stream ciphers. However, only KCipher-2 has been listed on the "e-Government Recommended Ciphers List". The reason why most Japanese ciphers have not been selected as "Recommended Ciphers" is not that these ciphers are necessarily unsafe, but that these ciphers are not widely used in commercial products, open-source projects, governmental systems, or international standards. There is the possibility that ciphers listed on "Candidate Recommended Ciphers List" will be moved to the "e-Government Recommended Ciphers List" when they are utilized more widely.

In addition, 128 bit RC4 and SHA-1 are listed on "Monitored Ciphers List". These are unsafe and only permitted to remain compatible with old systems.

After the revision in 2013, there are several updates such as addition of ChaCha20-Poly1305, EdDSA and SHA-3, move of Triple DES to Monitored list, and deletion of RC4, etc.

CRYPTREC Ciphers List

As of March 2023

Monitored Ciphers List

Related Research Articles

In cryptography, a block cipher is a deterministic algorithm that operates on fixed-length groups of bits, called blocks. Block ciphers are the elementary building blocks of many cryptographic protocols. They are ubiquitous in the storage and exchange of data, where such data is secured and authenticated via encryption.

In cryptography, RC4 is a stream cipher. While it is remarkable for its simplicity and speed in software, multiple vulnerabilities have been discovered in RC4, rendering it insecure. It is especially vulnerable when the beginning of the output keystream is not discarded, or when nonrandom or related keys are used. Particularly problematic uses of RC4 have led to very insecure protocols such as WEP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symmetric-key algorithm</span> Algorithm

Symmetric-key algorithms are algorithms for cryptography that use the same cryptographic keys for both the encryption of plaintext and the decryption of ciphertext. The keys may be identical, or there may be a simple transformation to go between the two keys. The keys, in practice, represent a shared secret between two or more parties that can be used to maintain a private information link. The requirement that both parties have access to the secret key is one of the main drawbacks of symmetric-key encryption, in comparison to public-key encryption. However, symmetric-key encryption algorithms are usually better for bulk encryption. With exception of the one-time pad they have a smaller key size, which means less storage space and faster transmission. Due to this, asymmetric-key encryption is often used to exchange the secret key for symmetric-key encryption.

In cryptography, a block cipher mode of operation is an algorithm that uses a block cipher to provide information security such as confidentiality or authenticity. A block cipher by itself is only suitable for the secure cryptographic transformation of one fixed-length group of bits called a block. A mode of operation describes how to repeatedly apply a cipher's single-block operation to securely transform amounts of data larger than a block.

Articles related to cryptography include:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cryptographic hash function</span> Hash function that is suitable for use in cryptography

A cryptographic hash function (CHF) is a hash algorithm that has special properties desirable for a cryptographic application:

NESSIE was a European research project funded from 2000 to 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. In particular, there is both overlap and disagreement between the selections and recommendations from NESSIE and CRYPTREC. The NESSIE participants include some of the foremost active cryptographers in the world, as does the CRYPTREC project.

In cryptography, Camellia is a symmetric key block cipher with a block size of 128 bits and key sizes of 128, 192 and 256 bits. It was jointly developed by Mitsubishi Electric and NTT of Japan. The cipher has been approved for use by the ISO/IEC, the European Union's NESSIE project and the Japanese CRYPTREC project. The cipher has security levels and processing abilities comparable to the Advanced Encryption Standard.

In cryptography, MISTY1 is a block cipher designed in 1995 by Mitsuru Matsui and others for Mitsubishi Electric.

There are a number of standards related to cryptography. Standard algorithms and protocols provide a focus for study; standards for popular applications attract a large amount of cryptanalysis.

In cryptography, MULTI-S01, is an encryption algorithm based on a pseudorandom number generator (PRNG). MULTI-S01 is an encryption scheme preserving both confidentiality and data integrity. The scheme defines a pair of algorithms; the encryption, the corresponding decryption with verification. Coupling with an efficient keystream generator, such as Panama, MUGI, and RC4, the algorithm efficiently encrypts a message in the manner of a single path process, i.e. online algorithm. The decryption function cannot be used in such manner for keeping whole resultant data until successful verification.

ECRYPT was a 4-year European research initiative launched on 1 February 2004 with the stated objective of promoting the collaboration of European researchers in information security, and especially in cryptology and digital watermarking.

In cryptography, Galois/Counter Mode (GCM) is a mode of operation for symmetric-key cryptographic block ciphers which is widely adopted for its performance. GCM throughput rates for state-of-the-art, high-speed communication channels can be achieved with inexpensive hardware resources.

In cryptography, SC2000 is a block cipher invented by a research group at Fujitsu Labs. It was submitted to the NESSIE project, but was not selected. It was among the cryptographic techniques recommended for Japanese government use by CRYPTREC in 2003, however, has been dropped to "candidate" by CRYPTREC revision in 2013.

In cryptography, Hierocrypt-L1 and Hierocrypt-3 are block ciphers created by Toshiba in 2000. They were submitted to the NESSIE project, but were not selected. Both algorithms were among the cryptographic techniques recommended for Japanese government use by CRYPTREC in 2003, however, both have been dropped to "candidate" by CRYPTREC revision in 2013.

In cryptography, CIPHERUNICORN-E is a block cipher created by NEC in 1998. It was among the cryptographic techniques recommended for Japanese government use by CRYPTREC in 2003. However, it has been dropped to "candidate" level by the CRYPTREC revision of 2013.

In cryptography, CIPHERUNICORN-A is a block cipher created by NEC in 2000. It was among the cryptographic techniques recommended for Japanese government use by CRYPTREC in 2003. However, it has been dropped to "candidate" level by the CRYPTREC revision of 2013.

CLEFIA is a proprietary block cipher algorithm, developed by Sony. Its name is derived from the French word clef, meaning "key". The block size is 128 bits and the key size can be 128 bit, 192 bit or 256 bit. It is intended to be used in DRM systems. It is among the cryptographic techniques recommended candidate for Japanese government use by CRYPTREC revision in 2013.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to cryptography:

KCipher-2 is a stream cipher jointly developed by Kyushu University and Japanese telecommunications company KDDI. It is standardized as ISO/IEC 18033–4, and is on the list of recommended ciphers published by the Japanese Cryptography Research and Evaluation Committees (CRYPTREC). It has a key length of 128 bits, and can encrypt and decrypt around seven to ten times faster than the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm.

References

  1. ↑ "e-Government recommended ciphers list" (PDF). CRYPTREC. 2003-02-20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-04-17. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
  2. ↑ "Specifications of e-Government Recommended Ciphers". CRYPTREC. 2018-07-02. Retrieved 2018-08-16.
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