Implementation of the AES as a Hash Function for Confirming the Identity of Software on a Computer System

Hansen, Randy R. ; Bass, Robert B. ; Kouzes, Richard T. ; Mileson, Nicholas D.

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (U.S.)

关键词: Verification Authentication;    99 General And Miscellaneous//Mathematics, Computing, And Information Science;    Computers;    Implementation;    Authentication;   

DOI  :  10.2172/15010189
RP-ID  :  PNNL-14170
RP-ID  :  AC05-76RL01830
RP-ID  :  15010189

美国|英语

来源: UNT Digital Library

【 摘 要 】

This paper provides a brief overview of the implementation of the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as a hash function for confirming the identity of software resident on a computer system. The PNNL Software Authentication team chose to use a hash function to confirm software identity on a system for situations where: (1) there is limited time to perform the confirmation and (2) access to the system is restricted to keyboard or thumbwheel input and output can only be displayed on a monitor. PNNL reviewed three popular algorithms: the Secure Hash Algorithm - 1 (SHA-1), the Message Digest - 5 (MD-5), and the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and selected the AES to incorporate in software confirmation tool we developed. This paper gives a brief overview of the SHA-1, MD-5, and the AES and sites references for further detail. It then explains the overall processing steps of the AES to reduce a large amount of generic data-the plain text, such is present in memory and other data storage media in a computer system, to a small amount of data-the hash digest, which is a mathematically unique representation or signature of the former that could be displayed on a computer's monitor. This paper starts with a simple definition and example to illustrate the use of a hash function. It concludes with a description of how the software confirmation tool uses the hash function to confirm the identity of software on a computer system.