hashtest

hashtest is software for measuring characteristics of cryptographic hash functions. The work done is a result of a degree thesis on the subject by Danko Ilik. It is being used in developing cryptographic hash functions at the Institute of Informatics, Macedonia.

It consists of utilities for:

• calculating an avalanche property of a hash function
• testing (partial) collision resistance of a hash function in O(const) memory
• testing the hash function as a RNG with Maurer's "universal statistical test"
• performing a statistical Möbius analysis

The utilities are independent of implementations of specific hash functions, i.e. they are modular. The following (example) implementations [modules] of hash functions are bundled into the package:

• MD5
• SHA1
• EdonC (developed at the Institute of Informatics)
• EdonR (developed at the Institute of Informatics)

The thesis (in Macedonian) is available here: hashtest-thesis-mk.pdf (443K). It is primarily based on the following papers:

• Eric Filiol: "A New Statistical Testing for Symmetric Ciphers and Hash Functions"(2002)
  • http://www-rocq.inria.fr/codes/Eric.Filiol/Moebius/
  • http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/filiol02new.html
• P. C. van Oorschot and M. J. Wiener: "Parallel collision search with cryptanalytic applications". Journal of Cryptology, 12(1):1-28, Winter 1999.
  • http://www3.sympatico.ca/wienerfamily/Michael/MichaelPapers/pcs.pdf
• Ueli Maurer: "A Universal Statistical Test for Random Bit Generators" (1992)
  • http://citeseer.nj.nec.com/maurer92universal.html

Binaries for Windows and Linux + source code (GPL): hashtest-0.1-src+bin-unix+windows.tar.gz (signature) or hashtest-0.1-src+bin-unix+windows.zip (signature)

If you are interested in using these utilities you ought to read the Usage and Extension Instructions.

The author is interested in hearing your comments.