The State-of-the-Art of Research on Impossible Differential Cryptanalysis
不可能差分密码分析研究进展

As a variant of differential cryptanalysis, impossible differential cryptanalysis is a simple and effective technique, and it is also one of the most frequently used cryptanalytic methods. After its proposition, the impossible differential cryptanalysis has been used to analyze many block ciphers and structures. Especially after a series of impossible differential attacks on AES has been published, it is now considered to be one of the most effective cryptanalytic methods on AES. Therefore, in this paper we systematically introduce the rationales of impossible differential cryptanalysis, and we also present the general techniques and methods used in it. Furthermore, we describe the state-of-the-art of research on impossible differential cryptanalysis, and list the results on various ciphers obtained by it. At the end of this paper, we conclude the advantage and disadvantage of impossible differential cryptanalysis and emphasize its importance on the design and analysis of block cipher.