Method and Apparatus for Increasing the Speed of Cryptographic Processing

Abstract

Encrypting data in as cascaded block cipher system may be accomplished by applying a first encryption algorithm using a secret shared between first and second parties as a key to generate a secret inner key; applying a second encryption algorithm for a predetermined number of rounds using the secret inner key to generate a plurality of blocks of ciphertext data from a plurality of blocks of plaintext data; and repeating the applying the first encryption algorithm and the applying the second encryption algorithm steps.

1 . A method comprising:
 encrypting, via a processor, at least one set of plaintext data including a plurality of plaintext data blocks stored in memory, wherein encrypting each set of plaintext data includes
 applying a first encryption algorithm in a counter mode using a secret shared between first and second parties as a key to generate a secret inner key, and 
   
       applying a lightweight encryption algorithm, using the secret inner key to generate a block of ciphertext data from each of the plurality of plaintext data blocks, wherein the lightweight encryption algorithm is a different type of algorithm than the first encryption algorithm. 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first encryption algorithm comprises the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption algorithm, and the lightweight encryption algorithm comprises at least one of the Rijndael algorithm and the Serpent algorithm. 
     
     
         3 . An article comprising:
 a non-transitory storage medium having a plurality of machine readable instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by a processor, the instructions provide for encryption of at least one set of plaintext data including a plurality of plaintext data blocks into ciphertext data, the instructions including, for each set of plaintext data
 applying a first encryption algorithm in a counter mode using a secret shared between first and second parties as a key to generate a secret inner key, and 
   
       applying a lightweight encryption algorithm, using the secret inner key to generate a block of ciphertext data from each of the plurality of plaintext data blocks, wherein the lightweight encryption algorithm is a different type of algorithm than the first encryption algorithm. 
     
     
         4 . The article of  claim 3 , wherein the first encryption algorithm comprises the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption algorithm and the lightweight encryption algorithm comprises at least one of the Rijndael algorithm and the Serpent algorithm. 
     
     
         5 . The article of  claim 3 , wherein the first encryption algorithm comprises the Rijndael algorithm and the lightweight encryption algorithm comprises the Serpent algorithm. 
     
     
         6 . A cascading block cipher system comprising:
 a processor;   a memory to store at least one set of plaintext data, each set of plaintext data including a plurality of blocks of plaintext data;   a first encryption unit, executed via the processor, operating in a counter mode using a secret shared between first and second parties as a key to generate a secret inner key for each set of plaintext data; and   a lightweight encryption unit, executed via the processor, operating using the secret inner key to generate blocks of ciphertext data from the blocks of plaintext data, the lightweight encryption unit to implement a different type of algorithm than the algorithm to be implemented by the first encryption unit.   
     
     
         7 . The cascading block cipher system of  claim 6 , wherein the first encryption algorithm implements the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption algorithm and the lightweight encryption unit implements at least one of the Rijndael algorithm and the Serpent algorithm.