Cryptography method and station for packet switching networks based on digital chaotic models

Abstract: A cryptation system for information transmitted through packet switching networks including masking the digital information data by combining them at the transmitting station with digital data of a certain code of cryptation before transmitting the so encrypted data through the network and performing an inverse decrypting processing at the receiving station using the same code of encrypting, comprises generating at a transmitting station and at a receiving station, starting from a given pair of password codes or user key, a certain discrete chaotic model or map of said pair of codes or key, producing dynamically updated pairs of values of codes or keys every certain number of processing steps of said chaotic map, masking the data to be transmitted by way of a logic combination with said current dynamically updated keys at the transmitting station, demasking the data at the receiving station by way of a logic decomposition of said digital data from said current dynamically updated key returning the digital data to a clear condition.

Description: FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method and relative system architecture for encrypting cryptation data transmitted on packet switching networks. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The growing development of networks and broadband telecommunication services and among these of pay services and of the growing demand for increasingly high security standards of the privacy of the data transmitted have dictated a strong request for data encrypting systems and algorithms. Among the most important applications we may recall the encrypting video of transmission for pay TV services, of telephone conversations through mobile radio systems, of data transmitted on a telematic network (electronic signatures, telematic bank operations, telematic trading, and the like). Typically, telecommunication networks supporting these services are broadband networks, whose success is due to new network technologies and, in particular, to the flexibility of communication protocols (for example X.25, IP, ATM) based on the so-called packet switching techniques. The packet switching technique is based on the segmentation of the information to be transmitted in the form of packets of digital data of adequate length depending on the needs, to which address data (header) are associated in order for the information to reach destination. With these techniques of transmission, the band is occupied only in presence of an effective traffic of data to be transmitted and different communications of different types of traffic may co-exist on a unique carrier. If on one hand the Internet Protocol (IP) is emerging as the platform network with greater diffusion prospectives, on the other hand the advent of new systems and broadband media (optical fibers and coaxial cables) represent a concrete premise for offering to the users a wealth of new services based on the ATM technique (Asynchronous Transfer Mode). In the future, the combination of service platforms such as Internet with the ATM transport technique may also contribute to accelerate the diffusion of applications based on the ATM technique. In this scenario, security is becoming a primary requirement for all operators of the sector because telematic services are on the increase (home banking, virtual shopping, electronic trading, etc.) and they require a high degree of privacy of information. Fig. 1 shows the functional scheme of a secure communication system which highlights the presence of encrypting (CRYPT) and decrypting (CRYPT -1 ) blocks for data protection. The CRYPT block at the transmitter station encrypts the messages ( clear text ) commonly through a password function, so that only authorized persons can retrieve the original message. The output of the encrypting (encoding) process, called ciphered text , is decrypted (decoded) at the receiver station by way of an enciphering password. It has been noticed that methodologies based on chaos theory may be useful in cryptation techniques. Potentially they are much more undecryptable than traditional cryptation techniques (DES, RSA, IDEA, MD5, etc.) presently used in packet switching networks. A starting point for the creation of chaotic cryptation systems are the so-called chaotic models. These, regardless of the meaning and the problems related to their development, are recursive systems which, given certain initial values, indefinitely evolve in time in a complex and unpredictable manner. The following table indicates some of the most common discrete chaotic models (also referred to as maps). Main chaotic maps Chaotic Map Function Logistic map X n+ 1 = aX n (1- X n ) Henon map X n+ 1 =1- aX 2 n + Y n Y n+ 1 = bX n Logarithmic map X n+ 1 = ln( a | X n |) Squared map X n +1 = a - X 2 n Cubic map X n+ 1 = Y n Y n+ 1 = aY n - Y 3 n - bX n Each chaotic series is characterized by the relative key, that is by the values of the initial state x(0) and of the control parameters (parameters a and b ). Generally, in order to encrypt the stream of digital data without increasing the amount of transmitted information, the most appropriate solution to protect the information is that of masking, as shown in the example of Fig. 2. According to this approach, the transmitted data are masked by hiding the information signal within a more complex one, generated by a chaotic system, by simply adding the two types of data. During the reception phase, the opposite operation must be carried out, that is discriminating between the received data and the information to be locally reconstructed through a system identical to that used for the transmission. The delicate problem of synchronization which is addressed herein, is independent from the choice of a particular chaotic map. Reliability and the very high level of security are the main advantages of chaotic cryptography. Starting from different parameters, it is impossible to obtain two identical series even if the starting parameters differ very little. This is an intrinsic characteristic of chaotic systems. The following technical papers relate to the problem of cryptation systems for packet switching networks. [1] B. Schneier, "Applied cryptography - Protocols, Algorithms and Source Code in C, John Wiley & Sons, 1994. [2] D. R. Frey, Chaotic Digital Encoding: An Approach to Secure Communication, IEEE Trans Circuits Syst.-Part II, vol. 40, no. 10, pp. 660-666,1993. [3] M. J. Ogorzalek, Taming Chaos: Part I-Synchronization, IEEE Trans Circuits Syst.-Part I, vol. 40, no. 10, pp. 693-6699,1993. [4] G. Kolumb (n, M. P. Kennedy and L. O. Chua, The Role of Synchronization in Digital Communications Using Chaos-Part I: Fundamentals of Digital Communications, IEEE Trans Circuits Syst.-Part I, vol. 44, no. 10, pp. 927-936,1997. [5] F. Dachselt, K. Kelber and W. Schwarz, Chaotic Coding and Cryptoanalysis, Proceedings of ISCAS '97, pp. 1061-1064, 1997. [6] William Stallings, "IPv6: The New Internet Protocol", IEEE Communications Magazine, July 1996, pp. 96-108. The article by Z. Kotulski and J. Szczepanski "Discrete chaotic cryptography", Ann. Physik 6 (1997) 381-394, discloses a method of constructing cryptosystems utilizing chaotic systems. This method consists in choosing a chaotic map γ and a secret key n , and generating an encrypted message by applying n times the chaotic map γ on a number P representing the plaintext message. The secret key is then iterated in a chaotic fashion for generating a new secret key to be used with the successive message to be encrypted. Iteration of chaotic maps implies relatively long computations. The published patent application of Japan JP 10 020 783 by Take Koji provides a system for realizing a one-time pad cipher on a personal computer in open network environment. The published patent application of Japan JP 09 288 565 by Koda Toru provides a stream cipher system that uses chaotic maps. OBJECT AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The aim of the invention is to provide a cryptography method based on digital chaotic models with enhanced security based on an encrypting/decrypting symmetric system, employing a key that is dynamically updated by the chaotic map, and a receiving/transmitting station of a packet switching network implementing the cryptography method. According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the dynamic key continuously processed by a certain model or digital chaotic map, used for encrypting/decrypting the information symmetrically at the transmitter and at the receiver, is generated through a multilevel architecture thus to provide for a scaleable degree of security, depending on the user's needs; a higher degree of security being obtained at the expense of an increment of the time taken for encrypting/decrypting. The method of the invention, considers the organization of packets of crypted data with a header of data having a predefined and constant length, and with a payload of a variable length containing the crypted information. The invention is defined in the independent claims 1 and 4, and particularly effective embodiments are defined in the claims 2, 3 and 5. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is the scheme of a cryptation system for packet switching transmission networks. Figure 2 is a scheme of cryptography based on a chaotic masking. Figure 3a shows a cryptography scheme of the invention with a second level key. Figure 3b shows the chaotic evolution of the state, referred to the scheme of Fig. 3a. Figure 3c shows the chaotic evolution of the control parameter, referred to the scheme of Fig. 3a. Figure 3d shows a cryptography scheme of the invention with a third level key. Figure 4 shows the complete structure of a packet of crypted data. Figure 5 is a detail of the header. Figure 6 is a secure communication scheme for MPEG sequences transmitted on an ATM network. Figure 7 shows the known structure of an MPEG-TS (a) packet and a detail of the 4 byte header of the MPEG-TS (b) packet. Figure 8 shows a decoding system of MPEG sequences received through an ATM network. Figure 9 shows the constitution of a corresponding crypted packet according to the present invention. Figure 10 shows the architecture of the cryptography model according to the invention. Figure 11 is a detail of the FUNC module of the architecture of Fig. 10. Figure 12 shows the organization of the RAM memory of the cryptography module. DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The key used for the masking sequence is composed by two elements or codes: State (64 bits) Control parameter (64 bits) The combination of these two elements constitutes the key which permits to decrypt the crypted message or to encrypt a message. The system of the invention is based on a symmetrical cryptography algorithm with a dynamic key of a chaotic type. In particular, the system dynamically updates both the State and the Control parameters of the chaotic series or map that is used for masking the information. Even, the laws of updating the initial State and Control parameters, or of the plurality of such elements in case of a scaleable multilevel scaleable implementation of the method of the invention, are of the chaotic type. In practice, the user has at his disposal a double key, composed of four 64 bit codes, of which the first two represent the Control parameter and the initial State for which a chaotic series evolves generating a succession of Control parameters: c(0), c(1), c(2), ... the remaining two codes, represent instead the control parameter and the initial State from which a chaotic series evolves generating a succession of initial States: x(0), x(1), x(2), .... By way of an example, according to the scheme of Fig. 3a, the above mentioned two successions may be obtained in the following manner. Initially, the chaotic function is applied to the first key, formed by the two codes X 01 , λ 01 , thus obtaining the State parameter X 1 . The same chaotic function is applied to the second key, formed by the two codes X 02 , λ 02 , thus obtaining the Control parameter λ 1 . However, the latter will range between 0 and 1 and in order to assure that the Control parameter is between 3.5 and 4 will be sufficient to apply a function capable to shift it within this interval. A very simple function that performs such a shift is: λ 1 = λ ' 1 OR (D400 0000 0000 0000)H The masking value M 1 may be derived by applying the chaotic function to λ 1 and X 1 . In order to encrypt or decrypt the datum D 1 it is sufficient to carry out an EXOR function or any other type of logic combination between the so generated masking value M 1 and the datum D 1 . The successive masking value M 2 with which encrypt the datum D 2 is obtained by applying the chaotic function to λ 1 and M 1 ; similarly M 3 will be obtained by applying the chaotic function to λ 1 and M 2 , and so forth, as shown in FIG.3B. When there is a need to evolve the map related to the control parameter, the chaotic function is applied to X 1 and λ 01 , thus obtaining the state X 2 ; the same chaotic function is applied to λ ' / 1 and λ 02 , thus obtaining the control parameter λ ' / 2 which may be shifted to the appropriate range by the single function λ 2 = λ ' / 2 OR (D400 0000 0000 0000)H. Figure 3c shows the evolution of this parameter. A new masking value will be defined by applying the chaotic function to λ ' / 2 and X 2 . It should be noted that the masking value is comprised between 0 and 1, therefore its 64 bit corresponding value will have the two most significant bits at 0 (this originates from placing by way of example 2 62 = 1). This could impede the masking of the two most significant bits of the datum to be crypted. The problem may be solved simply by copying (only for the masking phase) the two bits of weight 60 and 61 into the two most significant bits or in any case giving to these two bits (63, 64) any casual values. SCALEABLE MULTILEVEL CHAOTIC KEY It is possible to further generalize the algorithm of the invention for generating the keys that govern the dynamic masking of the information, by implementing a scaleable multilevel key generation architecture. Fig. 3D shows a three-layer scheme for generating the masking sequence in function of more than two initial keys K 1 / 1, ..., K 1 / 4. As depicted in Fig. 3b, the initial State and the Control parameters of the n-th stage are generated in the preceding stage with a chaotic law. This has two advantages: 1) the system has a scaleable security degree; 2) the output masking sequence has an enhanced unpredictability. Of course, with a multilevel structure, it will be necessary to account either for an increment of the processing time, in case of a sequential implementation of the entire multilevel architecture, or for an increment of the required silicon area in case of a parallel implementation of the multilevel architecture. Hence, the selection of the degree of security may be conditioned in some cases by speed requisites of data processing of the particular application. More in general, the scaleable multilevel architecture may be structured as a unique processing block receiving as input, besides the key of cryptation, also the desired security level for the specific application. Naturally, the dynamic of the CM block output signals, which will be used in the successive stage, must be adapted to be appropriate as a Control parameter in the successive stage. In case of a logistic map, this adaptation may be done by implementing an OR between the CM block output which processes the map and the hexadecimal value D400 0000 0000 0000. DEFINITION OF THE CRYPTED PACKET According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, a new crypted packet (CRYPT packet) structure constituted of a header of data having a constant length and of a payload of variable length is defined as shown in the example of Fig. 4. Naturally, the packet will include the packet header (indicated with a dark tone shading in the figure) according to the particular communication protocol being used. The header of the crypted data packets contains a series of fields which are useful during the encrypting of the information. The data header includes a first packet identifying field (PID) and a second field (SID) that identifies the data stream to which the packet belongs (for those applications based on the transmission of a plurality of different streams). Moreover, in those cases wherein it is possible to structure the information in "messages", that is in groups of CRYPT packets of a constant length, a third field (MID) identifying the message to which the packet belongs and a fourth field (CC) carrying information on the progressive number (continuity counter) of the packet within the message, may be also present. In such a case, the crypting may be done at the message level, that is for each new message there is a change of key. Where the processing preceding the encrypting provides for already packeted data, the length of the header (HL) of the packeted data is indicated in order to prevent that such a header be encrypted. Finally, a field indicating the payload length of the crypted packet (PL) may be included for applications where it is necessary to account for a payload of variable length. Since the loss of a portion of a crypted packet signifies the loss of the entire packet, it is convenient to choose a PL value not excessively large. Of course, on the other hand, there is a need to guarantee a certain minimum length of the packet so that the ratio overhead header/payload be as small as possible. Fig. 5 shows the organization of the data header according to an embodiment of the invention. The data header of the crypted packet is subdivided into the following fields: PID (Packet IDentifier): is an identifier which permits to appropriately identify the packet as a CRYPT packet. SID (Stream IDentifier): is the unique identifier of the stream (i.e. a filmed sequence) to which the packet belongs. It implicitly permits to establish when should stop the encrypting of a certain stream and start the encrypting of another stream. MID (Message IDentifier): is the unique identifier of the message to which the packet belongs. It implicitly permits to establish when a change of key should be done. CC (Continuity Counter): indicates the number of the packet within the message. It permits, during the reception phase, to detect an eventual loss of packets because during the transmission it is incremented one unit at the time. SL (Security Level): indicates the chosen security level of protection of the information. HL (Header Length): indicates the length in bytes of the header of the packet of data header contained in the payload. For certain types of data, headerless data, its value will be 0. PL (Payload Length): indicates the length in bytes of the payload of the crypted packet. It serves to maintain the synchronism in case of a loss of crypted packets. The peculiarities and advantages of the system of the invention may be summarized as follows: 1. The algorithm has a high level of security. The chaotic models, belonging to the class of polyalphabetical ciphers, ensure a higher degree of security than monoalphabetic ciphers (for example DES). Moreover, the dynamic change of key increases even further the level of security provided by the system of the invention. The law according to which the key is dynamically updated is of the chaotic type too and the frequency of updating may be chosen taking into consideration the characteristics of the particular application. Finally, to prevent cryptation of essential communication data and facilitate the use of the cryptation system, the masking is applied only to the data field (payload) of the packet. The HL field included in the header of the crypted packet permits a correct synchronization, preventing cryptation of the header portion of the packets. 2. According to a preferred embodiment, the level of security is scaleable. A multilevel architecture, by employing the same hardware, can readily adapt the level of security to the specific application requirements. 3. The algorithm exploits the intrinsic synchronism of the communication protocol based on the packet switched technique. During reception, by analyzing eventual discontinuities in the MID or CC fields, it is possible to trace back the number of the lost crypted packets. 4. The definition of the cryptography protocol provides for a certain flexibility also in the selection of the layer of application of the cryptography block. 5. The structure of the crypted packet is very flexible. It is capable to manage data streams of variable lengths with or without header. 6. The decrypting algorithm is independent of the particular type of information transmitted (audio, video, data) and of the eventual processing undergone by the messages (compression, etc.). APPLICATION OF THE ALGORITHM OF THE INVENTION TO MPEG TRANSMISSION ON ATM NETWORKS The application taken into consideration by way of example is that of a secure system of communication for MPEG video sequences transmitted on an ATM network. The encrypting/decrypting architecture of the invention may be integrated in a VLSI device of a functional hardware system, such as for example a "Set Top Box" for multimedia applications, as schematized in Fig. 6. MPEG CODING In terms of digital data, an MPEG video may be seen as a sequence of bits (bitstream). In particular, at the co-decoding level, that is at the coder output and at the decoder input, an MPEG film is delimited by sequence limiters; it always begins with a header, which contains essential coding information, such as for example: the frame size and the rate at which they are transmitted and the bit-rate, and terminates with a 32 bit end of sequence indicator. The header is followed by a variable number of groups of frames, called GOP (Group Of Pictures); these provide for a random access to the pictures and represent the smallest entity that may be independently decoded. A GOP always begins with a header and terminates in correspondence of the header of the successive GOP or with the end of sequence indicator. At transmission level, the MPEG bitstream is structured in MPEG packet Transport Streams (MPEG-TS) constituted of a 4 byte header and a data field of 184 bytes, according to the scheme of Fig. 7. Typically, the header of a MPEG-TS packet has eight data fields containing: the synchronizing byte (SYNC_BYTE), the identifier of the stream to which it belongs (PID) and the continuity counter (CONTINUITY_COUNTER) which, being composed of only 4 bits, zeroes itself every sixteen MPEG-TS packets. Fig. 8 shows a functional diagram of the case of a de-coder of MPEG sequences transmitted on an ATM network. The network interface reorders and reassembles the ATM packets received. In case of a simple uncrypted MPEG stream, it returns the transport level structured information, that is in packets of 188 bytes organized according to the MPEG-2 Transport Stream format (MPEG-TS) shown in Fig. 7. The microprocessors µP return the different MPEG streams from the transport level to the coding level. Another microprocessor, not shown in the figure, finally carries out the MPEG decoding operations. In case of errors or loss of ATM packets, the ATM interface discards the entire MPEG-TS packet and thereafter the µP effect a further test discarding packets eventually received with errors. By way of example of an application, the cryptography block of the invention may be inserted at the transport level, for imposing a unique de-crypting system for all the streams, reducing the costs, the size and the complexity of the relative hardware architecture. The cryptography system introduces information data within the payload of the crypted packet and sets the values of the relative header, as illustrated in Fig. 9. During a reception phase, the CRIPT -1 block performs the inverse operation (decrypting), returning the data to a transport level format. Due to the fact that at the transport level the MPEG-TS packets may be multiplexed and may belong to different data streams, it is necessary to store the State of the chaotic map of each stream. Fig. 10 shows a hardware architecture for the cryptography model of the invention. The system comprises an input buffer Buff.IN, that serves to store a certain number of data which must be crypted or decrypted, an output buffer, Buff.OUT, in which the data are stored after having been crypted or decrypted. There is also a processor unit, CU, that analyzes the data stored, and controls whether the data are crypted or not, etc., a FUNC module for generating the selected chaotic function, a RAM in which to store the values necessary to the crypting/decrypting operations, such as for example the present State and the key State for each channel, the security level to be used for each channel, etc., and finally, a module that performs the sum or the difference between the masking digital sequence and the data contained in the payload. As shown in Fig. 11, the FUNC module may be composed essentially of basic cells executing the elementary operations, for example in the case of the chaotic function X n +1 = aX n (1 - X n ) that generates the logistic map, the FUNC module is composed of two multipliers, X, and a module, 1-, which executes the operation. "1 minus the value present at the input of the module". The RAM includes an array of elementary memory cells organized in a way to form a 64 bit memory per each address. The required RAM capacity is calculated in function of the maximum security level and the maximum number of channels; for example: Password or key Security level Registers per channel Memory Capacity 2 x 64 bit 1 1 800 byte (100 channels) 400 byte (50 channels) 4 x 64 bit 2 3 2400 byte (100 channels) 1200 byte (50 channels) 8 x 64 bit 3 7 5600 byte (100 channels) 2800 byte (50 channels) 16 x 64 bit 4 15 12000 byte (100 channels) 6000 byte (50 channels) Beside the information inherent to the different States and to the current Keys relative to each Channel, the RAM contains data for allowing the CU to recognize the security level that must be used for each channel. In the example, 4 bits are used to define the security level for each channel, if there are 100 channels, besides the processing data area a further data storage areas of about 56 bytes must be accounted for. The CU module is programmable. When the cfg pin is activated (such as for example after a reset) the data acquisition will not be interpreted as data to be crypted or decrypted, instead they will be configuring data (for example, setting the security level for each channel, etc.). COMPUTING ASPECTS By way of example, the operations necessary to encrypt a whole PES packet in case a security level of up to level 2 and a logistic chaotic function are chosen, are reported in the following tables. Let: Xki = the initial State relative to the k-th chaotic map of the i-th level; Cki = the Control parameter relative to the k-th chaotic map of the i-th layer; A = register of the present State of the chaotic map; B = register of the Control parameter of the chaotic function; F = the chaotic function output; Lik = register storing the relative output of the k-th chaotic map of the i-th layer; C = register storing the output of the chaotic function; D = register storing the datum to be crypted; S = register storing the result of the masking sum/subtraction. STEP OPERATION NUMBER OF CYCLES 0 PES ACQUISITION (188+16 )*2 1 CALCULATION RAM ADDRESS CONTAINING THE NUMBER OF LEVELS OF THE CURRENT CHANNEL MAX 10 2 READING N° OF LEVELS FROM THE RAM 2 3 PROCESSING THE DATUM RELATIVE TO THE N° OF LEVELS 4 4 READ X11 FROM RAM 2 5 X11 => A 1 6 READ C11 FROM RAM 2 7 C11 => B 1 8 STORE F IN RAM (L11) 2 9 READ X21 FROM RAM 2 10 X21 => A 1 11 READ c21 FROM RAM 2 12 C21 => B 1 13 STORE F IN RAM (L21); F => B 2 14 READ L11 FROM RAM 2 15 L11 => A 1 16 STORE F IN RAM (L12); F => C; DATUM => D 2 17 S => OUT (FIRST DATUM) 8*2 18 F => B 1 19 STORE F IN RAM (L12); F => C; DATUM => D 2 20 S => OUT (SECOND DATUM) 8*2 21 F => B 1 22 STORE F IN RAM (L 12); F => C; DATUM => D 2 23 S => OUT (THIRD DATUM) 8*2 24 PES ACQUISITION (188+16 )*2 25 CALCULATION RAM ADDRESS CONTAINING THE NUMBER OF LEVELS OF THE CURRENT CHANNEL MAX 10 26 READING N° OF LEVELS FROM THE RAM 2 27 PROCESSING THE DATUM RELATIVE TO THE N° OF LEVELS 4 28 READ X11 FROM RAM 2 29 X11 => A 1 30 READ C11 FROM RAM 2 31 C11 => B 1 32 STORE F IN RAM (L11) 2 33 READ X21 FROM RAM 2 34 X21 => A 1 35 READ C21 FROM RAM 2 36 C21 => B 1 37 STORE FIN RAM (L12); F => B 2 38 READ L11 FROM RAM 2 39 L11 => A 1 40 STORE F IN RAM (L12); F => C; DATUM => D 2 41 S => OUT (FIRST DATUM) 8*2 42 F => B 1 43 STORE F IN RAM (L12); F => C; DATUM => D 2 44 S => OUT (SECOND DATUM) 8*2 45 F => B 1 46 STORE F IN RAM (L12); F => C; DATUM => D 2 47 S =>OUT (THIRD DATUM) 8*2 TOTAL 1758 MAXIMUM TIME BETWEEN A PES PACKET AND THE FOLLOWING ONE 40.000 As it may be observed, the time requisites are satisfied because the total number of clock cycles required is less by an order of magnitude than the maximum allowed value (the processing time between a PES packet and the next is of 40,000 cycles). Since the major computing burden is for the acquisition of the PES packet, it may be easily verified that even the highest security levels (3 and 4) satisfy the above mentioned time constraints.

Claims: A cryptography method for information data through packet switching networks, comprising the steps of: choosing a chaotic map fully defined by a control parameter (λ), and choosing a control parameter (λ) and an initial state (X) for encrypting said information data, characterized in that the method comprises the steps of: preliminarily choosing at least a pair of initial keys each defining a respective initial state (X 01 ; X 02 ) and a respective control parameter (λ 01 ; λ 02 ) of said chaotic map; generating at a transmitting station and at a receiving station of said network, starting from said given pair of initial keys, a chaotic succession of dynamically updated masking values (M) with said chaotic map in function of said pair of initial keys; masking the information data to be transmitted by way of a logic combination with an updated m king value (M) at the transmitting station; unmasking the information data at the receiving station by way of a logic decomposition of said digital data from said updated masking value (M) returning the digital data to a plaintext condition. The method of claim 1, further comprising the steps of: generating, with said chaotic map, dynamically updated initial states (X) and control parameters (λ) every certain number of masking values (M) generated with said chaotic map; and generating, at a transmitting station and at a receiving station, dynamically updated masking values (M n ) with said chaotic map in function of said updated control parameters (λ), said updated initial states (X) and previous masking values (M n-1 ). The method according to claim 1, wherein said data masking operation is performed by summing the dynamically updated masking value (M n ) to the information data at the transmitting station, while said data unmasking operation is performed by subtracting said dynamically updated masking value (M n ) from the received data at the receiving station. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of: generating a first initial state (X 1 ) for determining a first masking value (M 1 ), with said chaotic map using the initial state (X 01 ) and control parameter (λ 01 ) defined by a first one of said pair of initial keys; generating a first control parameter (λ 1 ) for determining a first masking value (M 1 ) with said chaotic map using the initial state (X 02 ) and control parameter (λ 02 ) defined by a second one of said pair of initial keys; generating said first masking value (M 1 ) with said chaotic map using said first initial state (X 1 ) and said first control parameter (λ 1 ); generating a succession of masking values (M n ) with said chaotic map using the masking value that precedes in the succession (M n-1 ) and said first control parameter (λ 1 ); generating an updated control parameter (λ n ) with said chaotic map using the control parameter that precedes in the succession (λ n-1 ) and the control parameter (λ 02 ) defined by the second pair of initial keys; generating an updated initial state (X n ) with said chaotic map using the initial state that precedes in the succession (X n-1 ) and the control parameter (λ 01 ) defined by the first pair of initial keys. The method according to any of claims from 1 to 4, wherein a crypted data packet has a structure comprising header of a constant length and a payload of variable length wherein crypted information data are introduced; the header of the crypted packet having at least: a first field (PID) that is an identifier which permits to appropriately identify the packet as a crypted packet; a second field (SID) that is the unique identifier of the stream to which the packet belongs, for implicitly permitting to establish when should stop the encrypting of a certain stream and start the encrypting of another stream; a third field (MID) that is the unique identifier of the message to which the packet belongs, for implicitly permitting to establish when a change of key should be done; a fourth field (CC) that indicates the number of the packet within the message, and that during the transmission is incremented one unit at the time for permitting, during the reception phase, to detect an eventual loss of packets; a fifth field (SL) that indicates the chosen security level of protection of the information; a sixth field (HL) that indicates the length in bytes of the header of the packet of data header contained in the payload; a seventh field (PL) that indicates the length in bytes of the payload of the crypted packet, for maintaining the synchronism in case of a loss of crypted packets. The method according to claim 1, comprising the steps of: providing a multilevel architecture system; generating said masking data with a multilevel architecture system, providing a dynamically updated code output by a level in input to a successive level and so forth, said masking data being output by a last level of said multilevel architecture system; processing with an architectural level a dynamically updated initial state (X) and control parameter (λ) generated by an architectural level that precedes in said multilevel system and outputting a dynamically updated code according to a certain discrete chaotic map independently chosen from a plurality of chaotic maps for said architectural levels. The method according to claim 1, comprising the steps of: choosing four initial keys (K 1 1 , ..., K 4 1 ) each defining a respective initial state and a respective control parameter of said chaotic map; processing the two pairs of said four initial keys for generating a pair of second level keys (K 1 2 , K 2 2 ), each composed of a second level initial state and a second level control parameter, according to the method of claim 1; processing said pair of second level keys (K 1 2 , K 2 2 ) for generating a third level key (K 1 3 ) defining a third level initial state and a third level control parameter according to the method of claim 1; generating at a transmitting station and at a receiving station a chaotic succession of masking values (M) with said chaotic map in function of said third level key (K 1 3 ) according to the method of claim 1. A receiving/transmitting station of a packet switching network including a system for encrypting/decrypting information being transmitted and/or received by masking digital information data with data of a certain cryptography key, comprising an interface of connection to the network (INTERFACE ATM), a first module of encrypting or decrypting (CRIPT ±1 ) the data and one or more decoding and processing pipelines of received data (µP, MPEG -1 , ...), said first module (CRIPT ±1 ) comprising an input buffer (Buff.IN) storing a certain quantity of input data to be crypted or decrypted, an output buffer (Buff.OUT) storing the decrypted or crypted data, a control unit (CU), a RAM memory storing data necessary for the cryption/decryption operation and a second module (±) summing or subtracting a sequence of said masking data to or from a sequence of information data to be crypted or decrypted, characterized in that it comprises a third module (FUNC) generating a certain chaotic function, chosen among a plurality of selectable chaotic functions, starting from a pair of initial keys each defining a respective initial state (X 01 , X 02 ) and a respective control parameter (λ 01 , λ 02 ) for said chaotic function, said pair of initial keys constituting a starting key read by said control unit (CU) and input to said third module (FUNC); said pair of initial keys identifying a current state of evolution of said chaotic function as produced by said third module (FUNC) being periodically updated in said RAM memory for each communication channel and constituting the current masking data of the transmitted information, which are dynamically updated every certain number of clock pulses of processing of said chaotic function. The receiving-transmitting station according to claim 8, wherein the encryption/decryption architecture is a multilevel architecture.

Inventors: BERITELLI FRANCESCO, DI COLA EUSEBIO, FORTUNA LUIGI, ITALIA FRANCESCO, BERITELLI, FRANCESCO, DI COLA, EUSEBIO, FORTUNA, LUIGI, ITALIA, FRANCESCO
Applicants: ST MICROELECTRONICS SRL, STMICROELECTRONICS S.R.L.
Application year: 1998
Main classification: H04L9
IPC codes: H04L12, H04L9