KSM: an experimental cryptographic mode of operation with bit loss resynchronisation

The purpose of this paper is to survey the characteristics of a variety of cryptographic modes of operation in order to select those that can be used to achieve single bit cryptographic resynchronization, and to assess the comparative performance of each of these schemes. A simulation program to trial and assess the performance of various modes of operation schemes in terms of error propagation and work factor is described, and experimental results detailed. A mode of operation known as optimised CFB based on a combination of cipher feedback mode (CFB) and statistical pattern detection is reviewed and shown to provide very good characteristics in terms of work factor and error propagation, and a detailed assessment of its characteristics with different synchronization pattern lengths is given. Finally, a new mode of operation named KSM is presented which is based on a reinitialisation vector generator (RVG) and through simulation this is shown to have superior characteristics.