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Ο στόχος της παρούσας διπλωματικής εργασίας είναι η ανάπτυξη μια java εφαρμογής μέσω της οποίας ο χρήστης θα έχει τη δυνατότητα να εισαγάγει συναρτήσεις Boole προκειμένου να πραγματοποιηθεί η ελαχιστοποίησή τους. Ο χρήστης έχει τη δυνατότητα να εισαγάγει συναρτήσεις έως και έξι μεταβλητών. Η εισαγωγή της συνάρτησης Boole μπορεί να πραγματοποιηθεί συμπληρώνοντας κατευθείαν τον χάρτη Karnaugh ή εισάγοντας τη συνάρτηση μέσω του πίνακα αληθείας ή εισάγοντας τους ελαχιστόρους, μεγιστόρους και αδιάφορους όρους της συνάρτησης και εισάγοντας τη συνάρτηση στην αλγεβρική της μορφή. Έπειτα ο χρήστης έχει δύο επιλογές, να εμφανίσει την ελαχιστοποιημένη συνάρτηση ως άθροισμα γινομένων ή ως γινόμενο αθροισμάτων. Η ελαχιστοποίηση πραγματοποιήθηκε με χρήση του αλγορίθμου της μεθόδου QuineMcCluskey (μέθοδος κατάταξης σε πίνακα). Στην εφαρμογή υπάρχει δυνατότητα επιλογής γλώσσας (ελληνική ή αγγλική). Επιπλέον, ο χρήστης μπορεί να αλλάξει τα ονόματα των μεταβλητών που χρησιμοποιούνται στις συναρτήσεις με ονόματα δικής του επιλογής. Τέλος, η εφαρμογή πληρεί αρκετές προϋποθέσεις ευχρηστίας, έτσι ώστε να μπορεί να χρησιμοποιηθεί με ευκολία από τους χρήστες. / The scope of this present diploma thesis is the development of a java application with which the user can import boolean functions in order to minimize them. The user has the possibility of importing functions up to six variables. The import of Boolean function could be achieved with filling the Karnaugh map or importing the function via the truth table or importing the minterms or importing the function as an algebra expression. Then the user has two choices, to present the minimized function as sum of products or as products of sum. The minimization was achieved using the method of classification in table, which is known as method QuineMcCluskey. At this application, the user has the possibility to choose the language, either Greek or English as well as to change th name of variables that they are used in the functions. Finally, the application fills enough conditions of usability, so it can be used easily from the users.

In the thesis a new way of checking whether a function is CCZ-equivalent to a permutation is given. The results for known families of almost perfect nonlinear (APN) functions are presented for functions defined over GF(2n ), for even n ≤ 12. The ways how to reduce the number of polynomials from each family are studied. For functions of the form x3 + a-1 tr1(a3 x9 ) it is shown, that they cannot be CCZ-equivalent to a permutation on fields GF(24n ) for n ∈ ℕ .

Optimisation heuristics rely on implicit or explicit assumptions about the structure of the black-box fitness function they optimise. A review of the literature shows that understanding of structure and linkage is helpful to the design and analysis of heuristics. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the role that problem structure plays in heuristic optimisation. Many heuristics use ordinal operators; which are those that are invariant under monotonic transformations of the fitness function. In this thesis we develop a classification of pseudo-Boolean functions based on rank-invariance. This approach classifies functions which are monotonic transformations of one another as equivalent, and so partitions an infinite set of functions into a finite set of classes. Reasoning about heuristics composed of ordinal operators is, by construction, invariant over these classes. We perform a complete analysis of 2-bit and 3-bit pseudo-Boolean functions. We use Walsh analysis to define concepts of necessary, unnecessary, and conditionally necessary interactions, and of Walsh families. This helps to make precise some existing ideas in the literature such as benign interactions. Many algorithms are invariant under the classes we define, which allows us to examine the difficulty of pseudo-Boolean functions in terms of function classes. We analyse a range of ordinal selection operators for an EDA. Using a concept of directed ordinal linkage, we define precedence networks and precedence profiles to represent key algorithmic steps and their interdependency in terms of problem structure. The precedence profiles provide a measure of problem difficulty. This corresponds to problem difficulty and algorithmic steps for optimisation. This work develops insight into the relationship between function structure and problem difficulty for optimisation, which may be used to direct the development of novel algorithms. Concepts of structure are also used to construct easy and hard problems for a hill-climber.

Boolean function f is k-interval if - input vector viewed as n-bit number - f is true for and only for inputs from given (at most) k intervals. Recognition of k-interval fuction given its DNF representation is coNP-hard problem. This thesis shows that for DNFs from a given solvable class (class C of DNFs is solvable if we can for any DNF F ∈ C decide F ≡ 1 in polynomial time and C is closed under partial assignment) and fixed k we can decide whether F represents k-interval function in polynomial time. 1

Boolean functions play an important role in the design and analysis of symmetric-key cryptosystems, as well as having applications in other fields such as coding theory. Boolean functions acting on large number of inputs introduces the problem of computing the cryptographic properties. Traditional methods of computing these properties involve transformations which require computation and memory resources exponential in the number of input variables. When the number of inputs is large, Boolean functions are usually defined by the algebraic normal form (ANF) representation. In this thesis, methods for computing the weight and nonlinearity of Boolean functions from the ANF representation are investigated. The relation between the ANF coecients and the weight of a Boolean function was introduced by Carlet and Guillot. This expression allows the weight to be computed in $mathcal{O}(2^p)$ operations for a Boolean function containing p monomials in its ANF. In this work, a more ecient algorithm for computing the weight is proposed, which eliminates the unnecessary calculations in the weight expression. By generalizing the weight expression, a formulation of the distances to the set of linear functions is obtained. Using this formulation, the problem of computing the nonlinearity of a Boolean function from its ANF is reduced to an associated binary integer programming problem. This approach allows the computation of nonlinearity for Boolean functions with high number of input variables and consisting of small number of monomials in a reasonable time.

Boolean functions play an important role in the design and analysis of symmetric-key cryptosystems, as well as having applications in other fields such as coding theory. Boolean functions acting on large number of inputs introduces the problem of computing the cryptographic properties. Traditional methods of computing these properties involve transformations which require computation and memory resources exponential in the number of input variables. When the number of inputs is large, Boolean functions are usually defined by the algebraic normal form (ANF) representation. In this thesis, methods for computing the weight and nonlinearity of Boolean functions from the ANF representation are investigated. The relation between the ANF coefficients and the weight of a Boolean function was introduced by Carlet and Guillot. This expression allows the weight to be computed in $mathcal{O}(2^p)$ operations for a Boolean function containing $p$ monomials in its ANF. In this work, a more efficient algorithm for computing the weight is proposed, which eliminates the unnecessary calculations in the weight expression. By generalizing the weight expression, a formulation of the distances to the set of linear functions is obtained. Using this formulation, the problem of computing the nonlinearity of a Boolean function from its ANF is reduced to an associated binary integer programming problem. This approach allows the computation of nonlinearity for Boolean functions with high number of input variables and consisting of small number of monomials in a reasonable time.

Block and stream ciphers are widely used to protect the privacy of digital information. A variety of attacks against block and stream ciphers exist; the most recent being the algebraic attacks. These attacks reduce the cipher to a simple algebraic system which can be solved by known algebraic techniques. These attacks have been very successful against a variety of stream ciphers and major efforts (for example eSTREAM project) are underway to design and analyze new stream ciphers. These attacks have also raised some concerns about the security of popular block ciphers. In this thesis, apart from designing new stream ciphers, we focus on analyzing popular nonlinear transformations (Boolean functions and S-boxes) used in block and stream ciphers for various cryptographic properties, in particular their resistance against algebraic attacks. The main contribution of this work is the design of two new stream ciphers and a thorough analysis of the algebraic immunity of Boolean functions and S-boxes based on power mappings. First we present WG, a family of new stream ciphers designed to obtain a keystream with guaranteed randomness properties. We show how to obtain a mathematical description of a WG stream cipher for the desired randomness properties and security level, and then how to translate this description into a practical hardware design. Next we describe the design of a new RC4-like stream cipher suitable for high speed software applications. The design is compared with original RC4 stream cipher for both security and speed. The second part of this thesis closely examines the algebraic immunity of Boolean functions and S-boxes based on power mappings. We derive meaningful upper bounds on the algebraic immunity of cryptographically significant Boolean power functions and show that for large input sizes these functions have very low algebraic immunity. To analyze the algebraic immunity of S-boxes based on power mappings, we focus on calculating the bi-affine and quadratic equations they satisfy. We present two very efficient algorithms for this purpose and give new S-box constructions that guarantee zero bi-affine and quadratic equations. We also examine these S-boxes for their resistance against linear and differential attacks and provide a list of S-boxes based on power mappings that offer high resistance against linear, differential, and algebraic attacks. Finally we investigate the algebraic structure of S-boxes used in AES and DES by deriving their equivalent algebraic descriptions.

Block and stream ciphers are widely used to protect the privacy of digital information. A variety of attacks against block and stream ciphers exist; the most recent being the algebraic attacks. These attacks reduce the cipher to a simple algebraic system which can be solved by known algebraic techniques. These attacks have been very successful against a variety of stream ciphers and major efforts (for example eSTREAM project) are underway to design and analyze new stream ciphers. These attacks have also raised some concerns about the security of popular block ciphers. In this thesis, apart from designing new stream ciphers, we focus on analyzing popular nonlinear transformations (Boolean functions and S-boxes) used in block and stream ciphers for various cryptographic properties, in particular their resistance against algebraic attacks. The main contribution of this work is the design of two new stream ciphers and a thorough analysis of the algebraic immunity of Boolean functions and S-boxes based on power mappings. First we present WG, a family of new stream ciphers designed to obtain a keystream with guaranteed randomness properties. We show how to obtain a mathematical description of a WG stream cipher for the desired randomness properties and security level, and then how to translate this description into a practical hardware design. Next we describe the design of a new RC4-like stream cipher suitable for high speed software applications. The design is compared with original RC4 stream cipher for both security and speed. The second part of this thesis closely examines the algebraic immunity of Boolean functions and S-boxes based on power mappings. We derive meaningful upper bounds on the algebraic immunity of cryptographically significant Boolean power functions and show that for large input sizes these functions have very low algebraic immunity. To analyze the algebraic immunity of S-boxes based on power mappings, we focus on calculating the bi-affine and quadratic equations they satisfy. We present two very efficient algorithms for this purpose and give new S-box constructions that guarantee zero bi-affine and quadratic equations. We also examine these S-boxes for their resistance against linear and differential attacks and provide a list of S-boxes based on power mappings that offer high resistance against linear, differential, and algebraic attacks. Finally we investigate the algebraic structure of S-boxes used in AES and DES by deriving their equivalent algebraic descriptions.

In this thesis we obtain several interesting algebraic properties of the operations used in the block cipher IDEA which are important for cryptographic analyzes. We view each of these operations as a function from $mathbb Z_{2}^n times mathbb Z_{2}^n to mathbb Z_{2}^n$. By fixing one of variables $v(z)=mathbf Z$ in $mathbb Z_{2}^n times mathbb Z_{2}^n$, we define functions $mathbf {f}_z$ and $mathbf {g}_z$ from $mathbb Z_{2}^n$ to $mathbb Z_{2}^n$ for the addition $BIGboxplus$ and the multiplication $BIGodot$ operations, respectively. We first show that the nonlinearity of $mathbf {g}_z$ remains the same under some transformations of $z$. We give an upper bound for the nonlinearity of $mathbf {g}_{2^k}$, where $2leq k &lt / n-1$. We list all linear relations which make the nonlinearity of $mathbf {f}_z$ and $mathbf {g}_z$ zero and furthermore, we present all linear relations for $mathbf {g}_z$ having a high probability. We use these linear relations to derive many more linear relations for 1-round IDEA. We also devise also a new algorithm to find a set of new linear relations for 1-round IDEA based on known linear relations. Moreover, we extend the largest known linear class of weak keys with cardinality $2^{23}$ to two classes with cardinality $2^{24}$ and $2^{27}$. Finally, we obtain several interesting properties of the set $ { ({mathbf X},{mathbf X} BIGoplus {mathbf A}) in mathbb Z_2^n times mathbb Z_2^n ,|, (mathbf {X}BJoin {mathbf Z})BIGoplus( ({mathbf X} BIGoplus {mathbf A} ) BJoin mathbf {Z} ) = {mathbf B} }$ for varying ${mathbf A}, {mathbf B}$ and ${mathbf Z}$ in $mathbb Z_2^n$, where $BJoin in { BIGodot,BIGboxplus }$. By using some of these properties, we present impossible differentials for 1-round IDEA and Pseudo-Hadamard Transform.