In the domain of cryptography, a particular attention must be taken when looking at classical attacks against block ciphers such as linear or differential cryptanalysis. Those initial cryptanalyses have many possible extension and the aim of this post-doctoral position is to analyze some ciphers regarding those attacks. A particular attention will be taken when looking at differential-linear cryptanalysis and Boomerang attacks with the very recent results cited here. The differential-linear cryptanalysis is an old tool dating from 1994 but has been recently reconsidered with the introduction of a dedicated table and its finer analysis. The advances in the domain of Boomerang attacks follow many directions including probabilistiv extensions or dedicated computations of what is happening in the middle rounds. A particular attention would be to analyze, using those recent tools, the ARX schemes and particularly the latin dance schemes such as SALSA, ChaCha and so on.
The aim of this post-doctoral position research project is to build new attacks on block ciphers, stream ciphers or hash functions starting with studying linear and differential cryptanalysis. Then, a particular attention will be taken at differential-linear attacks or more generally at statistical or composite attacks. We will, after having fully understand the methods and the models (MILP, SAT or CP), develop models dedicated to other block ciphers or integrate the new models into a dedicated tool such as TAGADA, CLAASP or another tool.
This post-doctoral position is linked with the part of the CARAMBA team working on symmetric key cryptanalysis.
The post-doctoral position thesis will take place over 2 years at the Lorrain Computer Science Laboratory (LORIA) in Nancy (France).
Requirements
Research Field: Mathematics — Education Level: PhD or equivalent
Research Field: History » History of science — Education Level: PhD or equivalent
Languages: French — Level: Basic
Years of Research Experience: None
Additional Information
The applicant should have a PhD degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science or Mathematics and good knowledge in symmetric key cryptology. Good programming skills are required, and skills in C, Java or Python/SageMath are a plus. Good writing and communication skills are requested, together with the ability to work independently as well as in a team.
A good English level is mandatory.
