New Concepts in Evolutionary Search for Boolean Functions in Cryptology

In symmetric cryptology the resistance to attacks depends critically on the nonlinearity properties of the Boolean functions describing cipher components like Substitution boxes (S‐boxes). Some of the most effective methods known to generate functions that satisfy multiple criteria are based on evolutionary heuristics. In this paper, we improve on these algorithms by employing an adaptive strategy. Additionally, using recent improvements in the understanding of these combinatorial structures, we discover essential properties of the graph formed by affine equivalence classes of Boolean functions, which offers several advantages as a conceptual model for multiobjective seeking evolutionary heuristics. Finally, we propose the first major global cooperative effort to discover new bounds for cryptographic properties of Boolean functions.