Shannon (DarkCrypt)
Shannon stream cipher (Hawkes, McDonald, Paddon, Rose, Wiggers de Vries), 256-bit key / 128-bit nonce, keystream-only path (MAC unused). Unmodified port of the published Qualcomm reference algorithm, as implemented in the DarkCrypt Total Commander plugin.
Properties
| Property |
Value |
| Category |
Stream Ciphers |
| Sub-category |
Stream Cipher |
| Security status |
🎓 Educational Only |
| Complexity |
Advanced |
| Inventor |
Philip Hawkes, Cameron McDonald, Michael Paddon, Gregory Rose, Miriam Wiggers de Vries |
| Year |
2007 |
| Origin |
🇦🇺 Australia |
| Source |
algorithms/stream/darkcrypt-shannon.js |
Parameters
| Parameter |
Supported values |
| Key sizes |
32 bytes (256 bits) |
| Nonce sizes |
16 bytes (128 bits) |
Security
Status: 🎓 Educational Only
Known vulnerabilities
| Issue |
Description |
Mitigation |
| Limited public cryptanalysis |
Shannon has received comparatively little independent cryptanalysis; not recommended for new designs. |
Use a modern vetted stream cipher such as ChaCha20. |
Documentation
References
Test vectors
3 vectors ship with this algorithm and run in the test suite. Byte values are hexadecimal.
Vector 1 — DarkCrypt Shannon — incrementing key, zero nonce, 128-byte zero keystream
| Field |
Value |
key |
000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f |
iv |
00000000000000000000000000000000 |
input |
00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000 |
expected |
0ee2138f44128488c2420f73e456e8c6 9b882661cdbad4599ff1450cf3c404fe 51e404ad44d6b91e033baa73b68e02a4 19e4890205125a4db883de138ba9941f 84cebab0ea8b1aeb5b24dfe7ffd03039 9494cbbec37498d04d4f8b3b3563b241 0319d85c8fa845960d798127ff5431e4 b93ecca5ff8946213aeb27046ce8d6fc |
Vector 2 — DarkCrypt Shannon — incrementing key/plaintext, zero nonce
| Field |
Value |
key |
000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f |
iv |
00000000000000000000000000000000 |
input |
000102030405060708090a0b0c0d0e0f 101112131415161718191a1b1c1d1e1f 202122232425262728292a2b2c2d2e2f 303132333435363738393a3b3c3d3e3f |
expected |
0ee3118c4017828fca4b0578e85be6c9 8b993472d9afc24e87e85f17efd91ae1 71c5268e60f39f392b1280589aa32c8b 29d5bb3131276c7a80bae428b794aa20 |
Vector 3 — DarkCrypt Shannon — non-zero key and IV, 48-byte message (verified against the DarkCrypt implementation)
| Field |
Value |
key |
0b30557a9fc4e90e33587da2c7ec11365b80a5caef14395e83a8cdf2173c6186 |
iv |
073c71a6db10457aafe4194e83b8ed22 |
input |
03203d5a7794b1ceeb0825425f7c99b6 d3f00d2a4764819ebbd8f5122f4c6986 a3c0ddfa1734516e8ba8c5e2ff1c3956 |
expected |
54f4cf98a4d8edaef4456c73136a5e59 c9a6bac3ccbe8e2ad28f1331b2bed69c 4ba38bfb36b1b3906727dd0d4597eb14 |
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