What is Diffusion in information security?


Diffusion is an encryption process where the authority of one plaintext symbol is spread over some ciphertext symbols with the objective of hiding statistical properties of the plaintext. A simple diffusion element is the bit permutation, which can be used frequently within DES. AES need the more advanced Mix-column process.

Ciphers can only implement confusion, including the Shift Cipher or the World War II encryption machine Enigma are not protected. Neither are ciphers which only implement diffusion. However, through the concatenation of such service, a strong cipher can be constructed.

Diffusion means that if it can change an individual bit of the plaintext, therefore (statistically) half of the bits in the ciphertext must change, and likewise, if it can alter one bit of the ciphertext, thus relatively one half of the plaintext bits should alter.

Because a bit can get only two states, when they are all re-calculated and changed from one apparently random location to another, half of the bits will have modified state.

The concept of diffusion is to secret the relationship among the ciphertext and the plain text. This will create it complex for an attacker who tries to discover out the plain text and it enhance the redundancy of plain text by spreading it across the rows and columns. It can be achieved through transposition of algorithm and it can be used by block ciphers only.

Modern block ciphers occupy superior diffusion properties. On a cipher level this define that changing of one bit of plaintext outcome on average in the alteration of half the output bits, through the second ciphertext looks statistically independent of the first one. This is an essential characteristics to keep in mind when managing with block ciphers.

The endorsement and diffusion of information technology has been well researched in the economics and information systems rule. This has led to the advancement of broadly accepted and used theories including the diffusion of innovations theory and the technology acceptance model.

In information security research, however, these theories have only been used very infrequently and proposed a structured method to assess industry success of information security technologies is depend on the Diffusion of Innovations process. They also used this approach to several technologies including digital signatures, privacy improving technologies and federated identity management.

The benefit is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as superior than the concept it supersedes. It is not so essential if the innovation has an objective benefit, but rather if the single recognize the innovation as advantageous.

Compatibility is the degree to which an innovation is recognized as being consistent with the current values, previous experiences, and needs of potential adopters. An innovation that is dependable with the current values will diffuse more immediately than one that is inconsistent with the norms and values of the social system.

Updated on: 14-Mar-2022

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