Omega Network Hash Construction

Abstract

Problem statement: Cryptographic hash functions are important cryptographic primitives. They are commonly used for data integrity checking and data authentication. Most of the cryptographic hash functions are based on the Merkle-Damgård construction. The basic Merkle-Damgård construction runs over the input sequentially, which can lead to problems when the input size is large since the computation time increases linearly. Approach: Therefore, an alternative architecture which can reduce the computation time is needed, especially in today’s world where multi-core processors and multithreaded programming are common. An Omega Network Hash Construction (ONHC) run parallel in multi-core machine has been proposed as an alternative to the existing hash constructions. Result: The ONHC performed better than the Merkle-Damgård construction. ONHC permutation architecture also showed improved security strength in term of digest value randomness when compared to Merkle-Damgård construction. Conclusion: Therefore, it is believed that the proposed ONHC is a valuable structure that can improve the performance of any hash function that can run on top of it.