Introduction to Galois Field

for AES
Overview

AES
Finite Field Prime Field
Overview

Application Extension
in AES Field
AES Overview

Plaintext,𝑥
128 bit
AES 128 bit
Ciphertext,𝑦

128/192/256 bit

Key, 𝑘
AES Overview
• Symmetric key
• At least 10 rounds of encryption/decryption
• Four layers operation
• SubByte
• ShiftRow
• MixColumn
• AddRoundKey
• All internal operation of AES are based on finite field
Introduction to Finite Field/Galois
Field
Some Algebraic Concept
• Three basic algebraic concept
• Group
Group, 𝑮
• Ring
• Field
Ring, 𝑹

Field, 𝑭
Group, (𝐺,∘)
A group is a set of elements 𝐺 together with an operation ∘ which
combines two elements of 𝐺. A group has the following properties,

1. The group operation ∘ is closed. For all 𝑎, 𝑏 ∈ 𝐺 it hold that 𝑎 ∘ 𝑏 = 𝑐 ∈ 𝐺

2. The group operation ∘ is associative. That is , 𝑎 ∘ 𝑏 ∘ 𝑐 = 𝑎 ∘ 𝑏 ∘ 𝑐 for all
𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐 ∈ 𝐺
3. There is an identity element 𝑒 ∈ 𝐺 such that for all 𝑎 ∈ 𝐺, 𝑎 ∘ 𝑒 = 𝑒 ∘ 𝑎
4. For each 𝑎 ∈ 𝐺, there exist an inverse element 𝑎−1 such that 𝑎 ∘ 𝑎−1 = 𝑒
Field , (𝐹, +,×)
A field 𝐹 is a set of elements with the following properties:

1. All element of 𝐹 form an additive group with the group operation " + “ and
identity 0.
2. All element of 𝐹 except 0 form a multiplicative group with the group operation
" × “ and identity 1.
3. When the two operation are mixed, the distributive law holds, i.e.
𝑎 𝑏 + 𝑐 = 𝑎𝑏 + 𝑎𝑐 , for all 𝑎, 𝑏, 𝑐 ∈ 𝐹
Finite Field in Cryptography
• Cryptography always work with finite field.
• Finite field is a field with finite elements.
• Also called as Galois Field.
• The size of field (the number of elements in such field) is called
cardinality or order.
Some example
1. FF with 5 elements denoted as 𝐺𝐹 5
2. FF with 11 elements denoted as 𝐺𝐹(11)
3. FF with 81 elements denoted as 𝐺𝐹 81 = 𝐺𝐹 34
4. FF with 256 elements denoted as 𝐺𝐹 256 = 𝐺𝐹 28

In general, finite field only exist with prime cardinality or prime power
cardinality.
𝐺𝐹(𝑝𝑚 )
Where 𝑝 is prime and 𝑚 ≥ 1
Prime Field
Prime Field
• Denoted as 𝐺𝐹(𝑝), where 𝑝 is prime.
𝐺𝐹 𝑝 = {0,1, . . , 𝑝 − 1}
• Prime number of element, 2,3,5,7…
• Arithmetic are done in modulo 𝑝 (modular arithmetic)
Another example
Consider a finite field with 5 elements
𝐺𝐹 5 = 0,1,2,3,4
• It can form a group under addition
• Also form a group under multiplication
• Distributive law hold.
Smallest Prime Field
• A very important prime field in symmetric cryptography is 𝐺𝐹 2 =
{0,1}
• Addition operation similar to XOR gate
• Multiplication operation similar to AND gate.
• Very important field in AES
Extension Field
 𝑮𝑭(𝒑𝒎 )

𝑮𝑭 𝒑 , 𝑮𝑭(𝒑𝒎 ),
𝒎=𝟏 𝒎>𝟏

Prime Field Extension Field

In AES, we are interested with 𝑮𝑭(𝟐𝒎 )

Extension Field Arithmetic
The arithmetic is still modular, however, the method of computing are
very different.
1. Element representation
• Element in 𝐺𝐹(2𝑛 ) are represented as polynomial.
𝐴 𝑥 = 𝑎𝑛−1 𝑥 𝑛−1 + 𝑎𝑛−2 𝑥 𝑛−2 + ⋯ + 𝑎𝑛 + 𝑎0
where 𝐴 𝑥 ∈ 𝐺𝐹(2𝑛 ) and 𝑎𝑖 ∈ 𝐺𝐹 2 = {0,1}
2. Addition and Subtraction
• Use regular polynomial addition/subtraction where the coefficient are
computed in 𝐺𝐹 2 .
Extension Field Arithmetic
3. Multiplication in 𝐺𝐹(2𝑛 )
• Regular polynomial multiplication
• Coefficient in 𝐺𝐹 2𝑛
• Reduction using long division
4. Inversion in 𝐺𝐹 2𝑛
• The inverse must fulfilled 𝐴 𝑥 ∗ 𝐴 𝑥 −1 ≡ 1 𝑚𝑜𝑑 𝑃(𝑥)
Application in AES
Construction of S-Box
Process of construction

Affine
𝐺𝐹(28 ) inversion
transformation
Process of Construction
• Find the inverse
𝐴 𝑥 ∗ 𝐴 𝑥 −1 ≡ 1 𝑚𝑜𝑑 𝑃(𝑥)
for all 256 elements in 𝐺𝐹 28 using the arithmetic introduce in
finite field extension with respect to the following irreducible
polynomial
𝑝 𝑥 = 𝑥8 + 𝑥4 + 𝑥3 + 𝑥 + 1