ESTREAM

eSTREAM is a project to identify "new stream ciphers that might become suitable for widespread adoption", organised by the EU ECRYPT network. It was set up as a result of the failure of all six stream ciphers submitted to the NESSIE project. The call for primitives was first issued in November 2004. The project was completed in April 2008. The project was divided into separate phases and the project goal was to find algorithms suitable for different application profiles.

Profiles

The submissions to eSTREAM fall into either or both of two profiles:
* Profile 1: "Stream ciphers for software applications with high throughput requirements"
* Profile 2: "Stream ciphers for hardware applications with restricted resources such as limited storage, gate count, or power consumption."

Both profiles contain an "A" subcategory (1A and 2A) with ciphers that also provide authentication in addition to encryption. In Phase 3 none of the ciphers providing authentication are being considered (The NLS cipher had authentication removed from it to improve its performance).

Final portfolio

With the conclusion of Selection Phase 3, eight ciphers (four per profile, as above) were selected as the final portfolio of the eSTREAM project.All are patent-free and open for any use except for Rabbit, which is patented and free only for non-commercial use. [ [http://www.ecrypt.eu.org/stream/phase3ip.html#rabbit The eSTREAM Project - eSTREAM Phase 3 ] ]

elected for the ESTREAM portfolio

elected as Phase 2 candidates but not as focus or Phase 3 candidates

Not selected as focus or Phase 2 candidates

See also

* AES process
* NESSIE
* CRYPTREC

References

External links

* [http://www.ecrypt.eu.org/stream/ Homepage for the project]
** [http://www.ecrypt.eu.org/stream/phorum/list.php?1 Discussion forum]
** The eSTREAM testing framework [http://www.ecrypt.eu.org/stream/perf/]
** Update 1: [http://www.ecrypt.eu.org/stream/papersdir/057.pdf (PDF)]
* [http://cr.yp.to/streamciphers.html Notes on the ECRYPT Stream Cipher project] by Daniel Bernstein
* [http://www.hotpixel.net/ estreamJ - Java implementations of eSTREAM ciphers, plus a live performance test]