Constructing Secure Hash Functions by Enhancing Merkle-Damgård Construction

Recently multi-block collision attacks (MBCA) were found on the Merkle-Damgard (MD)-structure based hash functions MD5, SHA-0 and SHA-1. In this paper, we introduce a new cryptographic construction called 3C devised by enhancing the MD construction. We show that the 3C construction is at least as secure as the MD construction against single-block and multi-block collision attacks. This is the first result of this kind showing a generic construction which is at least as resistant as MD against MBCA. To further improve the resistance of the design against MBCA, we propose the 3C+ design as an enhancement of 3C. Both these constructions are very simple adjustments to the MD construction and are immune to the straight forward extension attacks that apply to the MD hash function. We also show that 3C resists some known generic attacks that work on the MD construction. Finally, we compare the security and efficiency features of 3C with other MD based proposals.

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