Block Cipher's Substitution Box Generation Based on Natural Randomness in Underwater Acoustics and Knight's Tour...

Area of Science:

• Cryptography
• Information Security
• Signal Processing

Background:

• Block ciphers rely on substitution boxes (S-boxes) for security, with current methods using algebraic or chaos-based techniques.
• These existing S-box construction methods are vulnerable to various sophisticated cryptanalytic attacks.
• There is a need for novel S-box designs that offer robust resistance against known attacks.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design a novel technique for dynamically generating S-boxes that are resistant to cryptanalysis.
• To explore the use of true randomness from natural sources for cryptographic primitive design.
• To address the limitations and vulnerabilities of current algebraic and chaos-based S-box construction methods.

Main Methods:

• Extraction of true random bits from underwater acoustic waves.
• Dynamic generation of S-boxes utilizing a novel chain of knight's tour technique.
• Rigorous testing of generated true random numbers using the NIST randomness test suite.
• Evaluation of the security strength of the dynamically generated S-boxes against contemporary S-boxes.

Main Results:

• Underwater acoustic waves provide an impeccable entropy source for generating true random numbers.
• The proposed method for S-box generation satisfies standard evaluation tests for both randomness and S-box construction.
• Dynamically generated S-boxes demonstrate equal or superior security strength compared to the latest published S-boxes (2020-2021).

Conclusions:

• The research successfully demonstrates the feasibility of using natural randomness from underwater acoustic waves for secure S-box construction.
• The novel technique offers a promising, highly secure alternative to existing algebraic and chaos-based S-box generation methods.
• This study pioneers the use of underwater acoustic wave randomness in block cipher substitution box design.