Constructing Boolean Functions by Modifying Maiorana-McFarland's Superclass Functions
Xiangyong Zeng · IEICE Transactions on Fundamentals of Electronics Communications and Computer Sciences · 2005
SUMMARY In this study, we construct balanced Boolean functions with a high nonlinearity and an optimum algebraic degree for both odd and even dimensions. Our approach is based on modifying functions from the Maiorana-McFarland’s superclass, which has been introduced by Carlet. A drawback of Maiorana-McFarland’s function is that their restrictions obtained by fixing some variables in their input are affine. Affine functions are cryptographically weak functions, so there is a risk that this property will be exploited in attacks. Due to the contribution of Carlet, our constructions do not have the potential weakness that is shared by the Maiorana-McFarland construction or its modifications.