Question

Write down the weaknesses and strengths of block cipher modes operations?
Answer
In a block cipher, the plaintext is broken into blocks of a set length and the bits in
each block are encrypted together.
Common modes of Block Cipher Operations are:
 Electronic Code Book (ECB)
 Cipher Block Chaining (CBC)
 Counter Mode (CTR)
 Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)
 Data Encryption Standard (DES)

1. Electronic Code Book (ECB)

Strength
 Parallel encryption of blocks of bits is possible, thus it is a faster way of
encryption.
 Simple way of block cipher.
Weakness
 Not good for cryptanalysis since there is a direct relationship between
plaintext and cipher text.

2. Cipher Block Chaining (CBC)

Strength
 CBC works well for input greater than b bits.
 CBC is a good authentication mechanism.
 Better resistive nature towards cryptanalysis than ECB.
Weakness
 Parallel encryption is not possible since every encryption requires previous
cipher.

3. Counter Mode (CTR)

Strength
  It shows Hardware efficiency. Because CTR model is fully parallelizable:
one can be computing blocks all at the same time.
 Any block can randomly access.
Weakness
 Error propagation occurrence.
 Successive blocks have small Hamming difference. This has leads to the
concern that an attacker can obtain many plaintext.

4. Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)

Strength
 It is one of the most spread commercial and open source solutions used all
over the world.
 No one can hack your personal information.
 For 128 bit, about 2128 attempts are needed to break. This makes it very
difficult to hack it as a result it is very safe protocol.
Weakness
 Every block is always encrypted in the same way.
 Hard to implement with software.
 AES in counter mode is complex to implement in software taking both
performance and security into considerations.

5. Data Encryption Standard (DES)

Strength
 The use of 56-bit keys: 56-bit key is used in encryption, there are 256
possible keys. A brute force attack on such number of keys is impractical.
 The nature of algorithm: Cryptanalyst can perform cryptanalysis by
exploiting the characteristic of DES algorithm but no one has succeeded in
finding out the weakness.
Weakness
 Two chosen input to an S-box can create the same output.
 The purpose of initial and final permutation is not clear.