International Journal of Computer Applications |
Foundation of Computer Science (FCS), NY, USA |
Volume 46 - Number 17 |
Year of Publication: 2012 |
Authors: Faheem Masoodi, Shadab Alam, M U Bokhari |
10.5120/7013-9714 |
Faheem Masoodi, Shadab Alam, M U Bokhari . An Analysis of Linear Feedback Shift Registers in Stream Ciphers. International Journal of Computer Applications. 46, 17 ( May 2012), 46-49. DOI=10.5120/7013-9714
Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSRs) have always received considerable attention in cryptography. Owing to the good statistical properties, large period and low implementation costs, LFSR have achieved wide acceptance in developing stream ciphers. This paper intends to present a self-contained and comprehensive analysis of linear feedback shift registers and their application in stream ciphers. This research focuses on analyzing the mechanism of an LFSR, the two implementation variations and various properties of LFSR, which play a vital role in stream cipher design. In the last section of this paper, we address the security aspect of LFSR based stream ciphers and different techniques to enhance it.