In cryptography

Cryptography

Cryptography is the practice and study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of third parties...

, MAGENTA is a symmetric key block cipher

Block cipher

In cryptography, a block cipher is a symmetric key cipher operating on fixed-length groups of bits, called blocks, with an unvarying transformation. A block cipher encryption algorithm might take a 128-bit block of plaintext as input, and output a corresponding 128-bit block of ciphertext...

 developed by Michael Jacobson Jr. and Klaus Huber for Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom

Deutsche Telekom AG is a telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn, Germany. It is the largest telecommunications company in Europe....

. The name MAGENTA is an acronym for Multifunctional Algorithm for General-purpose Encryption and Network Telecommunication Applications. (The color magenta

Magenta

Magenta is a color evoked by light stronger in blue and red wavelengths than in yellowish-green wavelengths . In light experiments, magenta can be produced by removing the lime-green wavelengths from white light...

 is also part of the corporate identity

Corporate identity

In Corporate Communications, a corporate identity is the "persona" of a corporation which is designed to accord with and facilitate the attainment of business objectives...

 of Deutsche Telekom.) The cipher was submitted to the Advanced Encryption Standard process

Advanced Encryption Standard process

The Advanced Encryption Standard , the block cipher ratified as a standard by National Institute of Standards and Technology of the United States , was chosen using a process markedly more open and transparent than its predecessor, the aging Data Encryption Standard...

, but did not advance beyond the first round; cryptographic weaknesses

Cryptanalysis

Cryptanalysis is the study of methods for obtaining the meaning of encrypted information, without access to the secret information that is normally required to do so. Typically, this involves knowing how the system works and finding a secret key...

 were discovered and it was found to be one of the slower ciphers submitted http://csrc.nist.gov/CryptoToolkit/aes/round1/testvals/.

MAGENTA has a block size

Block size (cryptography)

In modern cryptography, symmetric key ciphers are generally divided into stream ciphers and block ciphers. Block ciphers operate on a fixed length string of bits. The length of this bit string is the block size...

 of 128 bit

Bit

A bit is the basic unit of information in computing and telecommunications; it is the amount of information stored by a digital device or other physical system that exists in one of two possible distinct states...

s and key size

Key size

In cryptography, key size or key length is the size measured in bits of the key used in a cryptographic algorithm . An algorithm's key length is distinct from its cryptographic security, which is a logarithmic measure of the fastest known computational attack on the algorithm, also measured in bits...

s of 128, 192 and 256 bits. It is a Feistel cipher

Feistel cipher

In cryptography, a Feistel cipher is a symmetric structure used in the construction of block ciphers, named after the German-born physicist and cryptographer Horst Feistel who did pioneering research while working for IBM ; it is also commonly known as a Feistel network. A large proportion of block...

with six or eight rounds.

After the presentation of the cipher at the first AES conference, several cryptographers immediately found vulnerabilities http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=6rj4sf%24f8p%241%40nnrp1.dejanews.com. These were written up and presented at the second AES conference (Biham et al., 1999).

External links

• John Savard's description of Magenta
• SCAN's entry for the cipher
• Paper describing Magenta