Crypto++

Crypto++

Developer(s)	Wei Dai
Initial release	1995
Stable release	5.6.1 / August 9, 2010; 14 months ago (2010-08-09)
Development status	Active
Written in	C++
Operating system	Cross-platform
Type	Development library
License	Crypto++ License
Website	http://www.cryptopp.com

Crypto++ (also known as CryptoPP, libcrypto++, and libcryptopp) is a free and open source C++ class library of cryptographic algorithms and schemes written by Wei Dai. Crypto++ has been widely used in academia, student projects, open source and non-commercial projects, as well as businesses.^[1] Released in 1995, the library fully supports 32-bit and 64-bit architectures for many major operating systems, including Apple (Mac OS X and iOS), BSD, Linux, Solaris, and Windows. The project also supports compilation under a variety of compilers and IDEs, including Borland Turbo C++, Borland C++ Builder, Clang, CodeWarrior Pro, GCC (including Apple's GCC), Intel C++ Compiler (ICC), Microsoft Visual C/C++, and Sun Studio.

Algorithms

Crypto++ ordinarily provides complete cryptographic implementations, and often includes less popular, less frequently-used schemes. For example, Camellia is a ISO/NESSIE/IETF-approved block cipher roughly equivalent to AES, and Whirlpool is a ISO/NESSIE/IETF-approved hash function roughly equivalent to SHA; both are included in the library.^{[2] [3]}

Additionally, the Crypto++ library sometimes makes proposed and bleeding edge algorithms and implementations available for study by the cryptographic community. For example, VMAC, a universal hash-based message authentication code, was added to the library during its submission to the Internet Engineering Task Force (CFRG Working Group); and Brainpool curves, proposed in March 2009 as an Internet Draft in RFC 5639, were added to Crypto++ 5.6.0 in the same month.^{[4] [5]}

Crypto++ algorithms and implementations

Primitive or Operation	Algorithms or Implementations
Pseudorandom number generators	LCG, KDF2, Blum Blum Shub, ANSI X9.17
High speed stream ciphers	Panama, Sosemanuk, Salsa20, XSalsa20
AES and AES candidates	Rijndael (AES selection), RC6, MARS, Twofish, Serpent, CAST-256
Other block ciphers	IDEA, Triple-DES (DES-EDE2 and DES-EDE3), Camellia, SEED, RC5, Blowfish, TEA, XTEA, Skipjack, SHACAL-2
Block cipher modes of operation	ECB, CBC, Ciphertext stealing (CTS), CFB, OFB, Counter (CTR)
Authenticated encryption modes	CCM, GCM, EAX
Block ciphers padding schemes	PKCS#5, PKCS#7, Zeros, One and zeros
Message authentication codes	VMAC, HMAC, CMAC, CBC-MAC, DMAC, Two-Track-MAC
Cryptographic hash function	SHA-1, SHA-2 (SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, and SHA-512), Tiger, WHIRLPOOL, RIPEMD-128, RIPEMD-256, RIPEMD-160, RIPEMD-320
Password based key derivation functions	PBKDF1 and PBKDF2 from PKCS #5, PBKDF from PKCS #12 appendix B
Public-key cryptography	RSA, DSA, ElGamal, Nyberg-Rueppel (NR), Rabin-Williams (RW), LUC, LUCELG, DLIES (variants of DHAES), ESIGN
Padding schemes for public-key systems	PKCS#1 v2.0, OAEP, PSS, PSSR, IEEE P1363 EMSA2 and EMSA5
Key agreement schemes	Diffie-Hellman (DH), Unified Diffie-Hellman (DH2), Menezes-Qu-Vanstone (MQV), LUCDIF, XTR-DH
Elliptic curve cryptography	ECDSA, ECNR, ECIES, ECDH, ECMQV
Secret Sharing	Shamir's secret sharing scheme, Rabin's information dispersal algorithm (IDA)

The library also makes available primitives for number theoretic operations such as a fast multi-precision integers; prime number generation and verification; finite field arithmetic, including GF(p) and GF(2ⁿ); elliptical curves; and polynomial operations.

Furthermore, the library retains a collection of insecure or obsolescent algorithms for backward compatibility and historical value: MD2, MD4, MD5, Panama Hash, DES, ARC4, SEAL 3.0, WAKE, WAKE-OFB, DESX (DES-XEX3), RC2, SAFER, 3-WAY, GOST, SHARK, CAST-128, and Square.

Performance

In a 2007 ECRYPT workshop paper focusing on public key implementations of eight libraries, Ashraf Abusharekh and Kris Kaj found that "Crypto++ 5.1 [sic] leads in terms of support for cryptographic primitives and schemes, but is the slowest of all investigated libraries."^[6]

In 2008, speed tests carried out by Timo Bingmann using seven open source security libraries with 15 block ciphers, Crypto++ 5.5.2 was the top performing library under two block ciphers, and did not rank below the average library performance under the remaining block ciphers.^[7]

Crypto++ also includes an auto-benchmarking feature, available from the command line (cryptest.exe b), the results of which are available at Crypto++ 5.6.0 Benchmarks.^[8]

As with many other cryptographic libraries available for 32-bit and 64-bit x86 architectures, Crypto++ includes assembly routines for AES using AES-NI. With AES-NI, AES performance improves dramatically: 128-bit AES/GCM throughput increases from approximately 28.0 cycles per byte to 3.5 cycles per byte.^{[9] [10] [11]}

Version releases

Crypto++ 1.0 was released in June 1995. Since its initial release, the library has seen nearly two dozen revisions, including an architectural change in version 5.0.^[12][13] There have been eight releases using the version 5.0 architecture as of August 2010.^[14]

Crypto++ releases since version 5.0

Version	Released Date
Crypto++ 5.0	September 11, 2002
Crypto++ 5.1	March 24, 2003
Crypto++ 5.2.1	July 21, 2004
Crypto++ 5.4	December 23, 2006
Crypto++ 5.5.1	May 25, 2007
Crypto++ 5.5.2	September 24, 2007
Crypto++ 5.6.0	March 15, 2009
Crypto++ 5.6.1	August 9, 2010

Lawrence Teo's compilation of previous Crypto++ releases dating back to 1995 can be found in the users group archives.^[15]

FIPS compliance

Unlike OpenSSL, which encountered post-validation issues from closed-sourced, for-profit factions,^[16] Crypto++ has received three Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 Level 1 module validations with no post-validation issues.^[17]

FIPS validated Crypto++ modules

Version	Certificate	Dates
Crypto++ 5.0.4	Certificate 343[18]	2003-09-05, 2005-10-28
Crypto++ 5.2.3	Certificate 562[19]	2005-07-29, 2005-08-24, 2005-10-28
Crypto++ 5.3.0	Certificate 819[20]	2007-08-13, 2007-08-17

Licensing

As of version 5.6.1, Crypto++ consists of only public domain files, with a compilation copyright and a single open source license for the compilation copyright:^[21]

“	The License of Crypto++ is somewhat unusual amongst open source projects. A distinction is made between the library as a compilation (i.e., collection), which is copyrighted by Wei Dai, and the individual files in it, which are public domain. The library is copyrighted as a compilation in order to place certain disclaimers (regarding warranty, export, and patents) in the license and to keep the attributions and public domain declarations intact when Crypto++ is distributed in source code form. The fact that individual files are public domain means that legally you can place code segments, entire files, or small sets of files (up to the limit set by fair use) into your own project and do anything you want with them without worrying about the copyright.	”
—Crypto++ Website

See also

	Free software portal
	Cryptography portal

• Computer science
• Symmetric cipher

References

1. ^
   • J. Kelsey, B. Schneier, D. Wagner, C. Hall (1998). "Cryptanalytic Attacks on Pseudorandom Number Generators". Fast Software Encryption, 5th International Proceedings. http://www.schneier.com/paper-prngs.pdf. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
   • C. Adjih, D. Raffo, P. Mühlethaler (2004). "OLSR: Distributed Key Management for Security". Independent Research. http://www2.lifl.fr/SERAC/downloads/attacks-olsr-dkm.pdf. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
   • X. Yinglian, M. K. Reiter, D. O'Hallaron (2006). "Protecting Privacy in Key-Value Search Systems". Computer Security Applications Conference (ACSAC). http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ylxie/papers/report03.pdf. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
   • T. Zidenberg (2010). "Optimizing Crypto++ library for P4". Technion, Israel Institute of Technology Website. http://softlab-pro-web.technion.ac.il/projects/cryptoppopt/html/projectBook.html. Retrieved 2010-08-10.
2. ^ "Japan's First 128-bit Block Cipher 'Camellia' Approved as a New Standard Encryption Algorithm in the Internet". physorg.com. http://www.physorg.com/news5315.html. Retrieved 2010-08-12. 
3. ^ A. Hartikainen, T. Toivanen, H. Kiljunen (2005). "Whirlpool hashing function". Secure Communications, Seminar Workshop. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.98.6099&rep=rep1&type=pdf. Retrieved 2010-08-12. 
4. ^ "Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) Brainpool Standard Curves and Curve Generation". RFC 5639. IETF. 2009. http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc5639. Retrieved 2010-08-08. 
5. ^ "Crypto++ 5.6.0 Release Notes". Crypto++ Website. 2009. http://www.cryptopp.com/. Retrieved 2010-08-08. 
6. ^ A. Abusharekh and K. Kaj (2007). "Comparative Analysis of Software Libraries for Public Key Cryptography". ECRYPT Workshop on Software Performance Enhancement for Encryption and Decryption. http://volgenau.gmu.edu/~kgaj/publications/conferences/GMU_SPEED_2007.pdf. Retrieved 2010-08-12. 
7. ^ T. Bingmann (2008). "Speedtest and Comparison of Open-Source Cryptography Libraries and Compiler Flags". Timo Bingmann Weblog. http://idlebox.net/2008/0714-cryptography-speedtest-comparison/. Retrieved 2010-08-10. 
8. ^ "Crypto++ 5.6.0 Benchmarks". Crypto++ Website. 2009. http://www.cryptopp.com/benchmarks.html. Retrieved 2010-08-10. 
9. ^ P. Schmid and A. Roos (2010). "AES-NI Performance Analyzed". Tom's Hardware. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/clarkdale-aes-ni-encryption,2538.html. Retrieved 2010-08-10. 
10. ^ T. Krovetz, W. Dai (2010). "Misdetection of MIPS endianness & How to get fast AES calls?". Crypto++ user group. http://groups.google.com/group/cryptopp-users/msg/a688203c2314ef08. Retrieved 2010-08-11. 
11. ^ "Crypto++ 5.6.0 Pentium 4 Benchmarks". Crypto++ Website. 2009. http://www.cryptopp.com/benchmarks-p4.html. Retrieved 2010-08-10. 
12. ^ Announcement (2002). "Crypto++ 5.0 beta available". Crypto++ Mailing List. http://groups.google.com/group/cryptopp-users/msg/fe8a49890c1d5484. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
13. ^ Announcement (2002). "Crypto++ 5.0 update". Crypto++ Mailing List. http://groups.google.com/group/cryptopp-users/browse_thread/thread/5eddbbd5fde32a33/eca9f6071d470d8c. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
14. ^ "Crypto++ Announcements List". Sourceforge.net. http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=cryptopp-announce. Retrieved 2010-08-14. 
15. ^ L. Teo (2002). "Release Dates of Previous Versions". Crypto++ Mailing List. http://groups.google.com/group/cryptopp-users/msg/c6d44b381c78a2bf. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
16. ^ "NIST recertifies open source encryption module". Government Computer News. 2007. http://gcn.com/articles/2007/02/16/nist-recertifies-open-source-encryption-module.aspx. Retrieved 2010-08-09. 
17. ^ "Crypto++^TM Library Versions 5.3.0 [32-bit and 64-bit] Security Policy". Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP). 2007. http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/STM/cmvp/documents/140-1/140sp/140sp819.pdf. Retrieved 2010-08-08. 
18. ^ "Validated FIPS 140-1 and FIPS 140-2 Cryptographic Modules (2003)". Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP). 2003. http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/STM/cmvp/documents/140-1/1401val2003.htm#343. Retrieved 2010-08-08. 
19. ^ "Validated FIPS 140-1 and FIPS 140-2 Cryptographic Modules (2005)". Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP). 2005. http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/STM/cmvp/documents/140-1/1401val2005.htm#562. Retrieved 2010-08-08. 
20. ^ "Validated FIPS 140-1 and FIPS 140-2 Cryptographic Modules (2007)". Cryptographic Module Validation Program (CMVP). 2007. http://csrc.nist.gov/groups/STM/cmvp/documents/140-1/1401val2007.htm#819. Retrieved 2010-08-08. 
21. ^ "Compilation Copyright for Crypto++". Crypto++ Website. http://www.cryptopp.com/License.txt. Retrieved 2010-08-15. 

External links

• Official website
• Crypto++ SourceForge project
• List of projects that use Crypto++ (Includes nonprofit and for profit projects)
• Crypto++ users group