Miss in the Middle Attacks on IDEA and Khufu

In a recent paper we developed a new cryptanalytic technique based on impossible differentials, and used it to attack the Skipjack encryption algorithm reduced from 32 to 31 rounds. In this paper we describe the application of this technique to the block ciphers IDEA and Khufu. In both cases the new attacks cover more rounds than the best currently known attacks. This demonstrates the power of the new cryptanalytic technique, shows that it is applicable to a larger class of cryptosystems, and develops new technical tools for applying it in new situations.

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