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Eli BihamIsraeli cryptographer and cryptanalyst
Date of Birth: 01.01.1960
Country:  Israel |
Content:
- Eli Biham: Trailblazing Cryptographer and Cryptanalyst
- Academic and Research Career
- Contributions to Cipher Design
- Tiger: A Robust and Efficient Hash Function
- Serpent: A Secure and High-Performance Block Cipher
- Py: A Versatile Stream Cipher
- Differential Cryptanalysis: A Game-Changer
- Cryptanalysis of A5/1 GSM Stream Cipher
- Cryptanalysis of ANSI X9.52 CBCM Mode
Eli Biham: Trailblazing Cryptographer and Cryptanalyst
Early Research and Differential CryptanalysisEli Biham, an Israeli cryptographer, studied under the renowned cryptologist Adi Shamir. Together, they developed differential cryptanalysis, a breakthrough that earned Biham his doctorate. However, it was later discovered that this technique had been secretly known by the NSA and IBM.
Academic and Research Career
Since October 2008, Biham has been a professor of computer science at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. His research spans a wide range of areas in cryptography, including cryptanalysis, cipher design, and hash functions.
Contributions to Cipher Design
Biham has played a pivotal role in creating several ciphers, including Serpent (a block cipher) and Py (a stream cipher). He also contributed to the design of hash functions, such as Tiger.
Tiger: A Robust and Efficient Hash Function
In 1995, Biham collaborated with Ross Anderson to develop Tiger, a powerful and fast hash function designed for 64-bit processors. It provided strong resistance to collision attacks and became a widely used standard.
Serpent: A Secure and High-Performance Block Cipher
Biham, Anderson, and Lars Knudsen created Serpent for the AES competition. Based on careful analysis of DES, Serpent offered twice the speed and comparable security with just 16 rounds. Its 32-round variant further enhanced its security.
Py: A Versatile Stream Cipher
Under the eSTREAM project, Biham and Jennifer Seberry designed Py, a stream cipher optimized for widespread applications. It boasted exceptional speed and resistance to various attacks.
Differential Cryptanalysis: A Game-Changer
Biham and Shamir's seminal work on differential cryptanalysis revolutionized the field. They demonstrated how to break 8-round DES within minutes using this technique. Their subsequent analysis extended these attacks to 15- and 16-round DES.
Cryptanalysis of A5/1 GSM Stream Cipher
In 2000, Biham and Or Dunkelman published an attack on the A5/1 stream cipher used in GSM systems. Their method required fewer resources and memory than previous attacks, making it a practical threat.
Cryptanalysis of ANSI X9.52 CBCM Mode
Biham and Knudsen analyzed the ANSI X9.52 CBCM mode, a triple-DES encryption method. Their attack exploited the cipher's intermediate feedback values to recover plaintext with a single ciphertext and relatively low complexity.
