Initially, DES served as the standard for digital communications, showcasing the early strides in encryption technology. However, with advancements in computing power, DES became vulnerable to hacking, as it could be compromised in a matter of hours.
Triple DES emerged, refining the security landscape by applying the DES algorithm three times. This triple-layered approach with multiple keys significantly bolstered resistance against modern computational threats, offering a more robust and secure encryption solution.
How does it work?
Here’s a basic overview of how Triple DES works:
Key Expansion
Triple DES uses three 56-bit keys labeled Key1, Key2, and Key3. If a 168-bit key is provided, it’s used as is. If a 112-bit key is provided, it’s repeated to form a 168-bit key.
The data is divided into blocks of 64 bits. The encryption process involves three stages: encryption with Key1, Decryption with Key2, and Encryption with Key3 (EDE—Encrypt, Decrypt, Encrypt).
Decryption Process
The process for decryption is reversed: decryption with Key3, Encryption with Key2, and Decryption with Key1.
Key Usage
Each key is used for a different phase, providing a threefold application of the DES algorithm. Using three keys in a cascade provides an effective key length of 168 bits, making Triple DES more secure than single DES.
Triple DES aims to address the vulnerabilities of a single DES by applying the algorithm multiple times. While more secure than single DES, Triple DES is considered slow compared to modern encryption algorithms like AES.
Variants
There are variations in how Triple DES is implemented. For example, some modes use two keys (EEE or EDE) instead of three, depending on specific security requirements.
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Example
In a 3DES scenario, consider the plaintext message “HELLO123” and three keys: K1, K2, and K3.
The encryption process begins
By encrypting the message with the first key, K1, creating an intermediate ciphertext. Subsequently, this intermediate result undergoes decryption using K2, followed by a final encryption with K3.
The outcome
Outcome of this three-step process is the secure ciphertext representation of the original message
For decryption
The reverse steps are executed – decrypting with K3, encrypting with K2, and finally decrypting with K1 – leading to recovering the original “HELLO123” plaintext.
Using three keys in 3DES and the intricate encryption-decryption sequence heightens security compared to the single DES algorithm.
Advantages and disadvantages
Advantages
Disadvantages
The triple-layered encryption provides increased security compared to the original DES.
3DES is slower than modern encryption algorithms like AES, impacting processing efficiency.
3DES retains compatibility with existing DES implementations, facilitating gradual transitions.
While stronger than DES, 3DES’s effective key length is limited, especially when using three 56-bit keys.
3DES can be used for a single DES by setting all three keys to the same value, ensuring backward compatibility.
The triple encryption process demands more computational resources, affecting performance in resource-constrained environments.
3DES is widely supported and integrated into various applications, protocols, and hardware.
Although more secure than DES, 3DES has a smaller security margin than advanced encryption standards like AES.
In cryptography, Triple DES (3DES or TDES), officially the Triple Data Encryption Algorithm (TDEA or Triple DEA), is a symmetric-key block cipher, which applies the DES cipher algorithm three times to each data block.
is a type of encryption that employs three DES instances on the same plaintext. It employs a variety of key selection approaches, including the following: all utilized keys are different in the first. two keys are the same and one is different in the second. and all keys are the same in the third.
An implementation of the data encryption standard (DES) algorithm that uses three passes of the DES algorithm instead of one as used in ordinary DES applications. Triple DES provides much stronger encryption than ordinary DES but it is less secure than advanced encryption standard (AES).
Triple Data Encryption Standard (Triple DES) is a symmetric block cipher-based cryptography standard that uses fixed length keys with three passes of the DES algorithm. As a symmetric cryptographic scheme, DES implementations rely on the same secret keys shared between the sender and the recipient.
The primary differences between 3DES and AES lie in their structure, speed, security level, and key lengths: Structure: While 3DES applies the DES algorithm three times per data block, AES uses a more complex set of operations (substitution, permutation, and mixing) applied over multiple rounds.
A CVE released in 2016, CVE-2016-2183, disclosed a major security vulnerability in the DES and 3DES encryption algorithms. This CVE, combined with the inadequate key size of 3DES, led to NIST deprecating 3DES in 2019 and disallowing all uses (except processing already encrypted data) by the end of 2023.
When Triple DES is used with three independent keys, sometimes referred to as 3TDEA, it has a key length of 168 bits (3 x 56-bit DES keys = 168 independent key bits). Due to meet-in-the-middle attacks, however, the effective security 3TDEA provides is only 112 bits.
Example. In a 3DES scenario, consider the plaintext message “HELLO123” and three keys: K1, K2, and K3. By encrypting the message with the first key, K1, creating an intermediate ciphertext. Subsequently, this intermediate result undergoes decryption using K2, followed by a final encryption with K3.
Triple DES is also vulnerable to meet-in-the middle attack because of which it give total security level of 2^112 instead of using 168 bit of key. The block collision attack can also be done because of short block size and using same key to encrypt large size of text. It is also vulnerable to sweet32 attack.
In March of 2019, NIST announced that it was retiring the 3DES encryption algorithm. This was done in stages, where the algorithm was first deprecated and then in December 2023 it will be disallowed.
Encryption algorithm Triple DES is a block cipher which is still recognized as secure, but deprecated. It has multiple vulnerabilities (eg: sweet32 attack, meet-in-the-middle attack, brute-force attack) and it is considered as weak and disallowed by National Institute of Standards and Technology after 2023.
AES encryption is a symmetric cryptography algorithm. This means that the encryption and decryption process uses the same key for both processes. AES has been the standard for symmetric encryption for the last few decades, and is still widely used today for its secure encryption capabilities.
The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) has changed older encryption techniques like DES, 3DES, and TDEA because of its superior security, performance, and sturdy design. AES gives longer key lengths, making it more proof against attacks, and methods data more effectively.
3DES is particularly prominent in the finance and payments sector and underlies the worldwide EMV standard used to secure, chip-enabled credit card transactions. Certain browser and media applications, such as Firefox and Mozilla Thunderbird, use 3DES to encrypt authentication credentials.
Our results show that 80-bit security can be attacked by distributed GPU clusters. Thus, we recommend Present with 80-bit key and other cryptographic algorithms with 80-bit or shorter keys to be removed from ISO/IEC and other standards. 112-bit security of 3des can be broken in 8 years with RTX 3070 GPUs.
GCM is constructed from an approved symmetric key block cipher with a block size of 128 bits, such as the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm that is specified in Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Pub.197 [2]. Thus, GCM is a mode of operation of the AES algorithm.
Level 3: Hardware must feature physical tamper-resistance and identity-based authentication. There must also be a physical or logical separation between the interfaces through which critical security parameters (CSPs) enter and leave the module.
Introduction: My name is Errol Quitzon, I am a fair, cute, fancy, clean, attractive, sparkling, kind person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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