The MESH block ciphers

Abstract

This paper describes the MESH block ciphers, whose designs are based on the same group operations as the IDEA cipher, but with a number of novel features: flexible block sizes in steps of 32 bits (the block size of IDEA is fixed at 64 bits); larger MA-boxes; distinct key-mixing layers for odd and even rounds; and new key schedule algorithms that achieve fast avalanche and avoid the weak keys of IDEA. The software performance of MESH ciphers are estimated to be better or comparable to that of triple-DES. A number of attacks, such as truncated and impossible differentials, linear and Demirci's attack, shows that more resources are required on the MESH ciphers than for IDEA, and indicates that both ciphers seem to have a large margin of security. © Springer-Verlag 2004.