Pseudo‐Random‐Sequence Generators and Stream Ciphers
Bruce Schneier · 2015
This chapter discusses a list of good constants for linear congruential generators and stream ciphers. Linear congruential generators remain useful for noncryptographic applications such as simulations. They are efficient and show good statistical behavior with respect to most reasonable empirical tests. Shift register sequences are used in both cryptography and coding theory. There is a wealth of theory about them; stream ciphers based on shift registers have been the workhorse of military cryptography since the beginnings of electronics. The simplest kind of feedback shift register is a linear feedback shift register, or LFSR. Most practical stream-cipher designs center around LFSRs. Even in VLSI circuitry, a LFSR-based stream cipher can give people a lot of security with only a few logic gates. The chapter also discusses Hughes XPD/KPD, Nanoteq, Rambutan, additive generators, and PKZIP.