1Modes of DES 2Quite a bit of the following information has been taken from 3 AS 2805.5.2 4 Australian Standard 5 Electronic funds transfer - Requirements for interfaces, 6 Part 5.2: Modes of operation for an n-bit block cipher algorithm 7 Appendix A 8 9There are several different modes in which DES can be used, they are 10as follows. 11 12Electronic Codebook Mode (ECB) (des_ecb_encrypt()) 13- 64 bits are enciphered at a time. 14- The order of the blocks can be rearranged without detection. 15- The same plaintext block always produces the same ciphertext block 16 (for the same key) making it vulnerable to a 'dictionary attack'. 17- An error will only affect one ciphertext block. 18 19Cipher Block Chaining Mode (CBC) (des_cbc_encrypt()) 20- a multiple of 64 bits are enciphered at a time. 21- The CBC mode produces the same ciphertext whenever the same 22 plaintext is encrypted using the same key and starting variable. 23- The chaining operation makes the ciphertext blocks dependent on the 24 current and all preceding plaintext blocks and therefore blocks can not 25 be rearranged. 26- The use of different starting variables prevents the same plaintext 27 enciphering to the same ciphertext. 28- An error will affect the current and the following ciphertext blocks. 29 30Cipher Feedback Mode (CFB) (des_cfb_encrypt()) 31- a number of bits (j) <= 64 are enciphered at a time. 32- The CFB mode produces the same ciphertext whenever the same 33 plaintext is encrypted using the same key and starting variable. 34- The chaining operation makes the ciphertext variables dependent on the 35 current and all preceding variables and therefore j-bit variables are 36 chained together and con not be rearranged. 37- The use of different starting variables prevents the same plaintext 38 enciphering to the same ciphertext. 39- The strength of the CFB mode depends on the size of k (maximal if 40 j == k). In my implementation this is always the case. 41- Selection of a small value for j will require more cycles through 42 the encipherment algorithm per unit of plaintext and thus cause 43 greater processing overheads. 44- Only multiples of j bits can be enciphered. 45- An error will affect the current and the following ciphertext variables. 46 47Output Feedback Mode (OFB) (des_ofb_encrypt()) 48- a number of bits (j) <= 64 are enciphered at a time. 49- The OFB mode produces the same ciphertext whenever the same 50 plaintext enciphered using the same key and starting variable. More 51 over, in the OFB mode the same key stream is produced when the same 52 key and start variable are used. Consequently, for security reasons 53 a specific start variable should be used only once for a given key. 54- The absence of chaining makes the OFB more vulnerable to specific attacks. 55- The use of different start variables values prevents the same 56 plaintext enciphering to the same ciphertext, by producing different 57 key streams. 58- Selection of a small value for j will require more cycles through 59 the encipherment algorithm per unit of plaintext and thus cause 60 greater processing overheads. 61- Only multiples of j bits can be enciphered. 62- OFB mode of operation does not extend ciphertext errors in the 63 resultant plaintext output. Every bit error in the ciphertext causes 64 only one bit to be in error in the deciphered plaintext. 65- OFB mode is not self-synchronising. If the two operation of 66 encipherment and decipherment get out of synchronism, the system needs 67 to be re-initialised. 68- Each re-initialisation should use a value of the start variable 69different from the start variable values used before with the same 70key. The reason for this is that an identical bit stream would be 71produced each time from the same parameters. This would be 72susceptible to a 'known plaintext' attack. 73 74Triple ECB Mode (des_3ecb_encrypt()) 75- Encrypt with key1, decrypt with key2 and encrypt with key1 again. 76- As for ECB encryption but increases the effective key length to 112 bits. 77- If both keys are the same it is equivalent to encrypting once with 78 just one key. 79 80Triple CBC Mode (des_3cbc_encrypt()) 81- Encrypt with key1, decrypt with key2 and encrypt with key1 again. 82- As for CBC encryption but increases the effective key length to 112 bits. 83- If both keys are the same it is equivalent to encrypting once with 84 just one key. 85