Cryptanalysis: a survey of recent results

Cryptosystems are tested by subjecting them to cryptanalytic attacks by experts. Most of the cryptosystems that have been publicly proposed in the last decade have been broken. Some of the attacks that have been used are outlined, and some of the basic tools available to the cryptanalyst are explained. Attacks on the knapsack cryptosystems, congruential generators, and a variety of two key secrecy and signature schemes are discussed. There is also a brief discussion of the status of the security of cryptosystems for which there is no known feasible attack, such as the RSA, discrete exponentiation, and DES cryptosystems.< >