Selecting an Effective Entropy Estimator for Short Sequences of Bits and Bytes with Maximum Entropy |
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Authors: | Lianet Contreras Rodríguez Evaristo Jos Madarro-Cap
Carlos Miguel Legn-Prez
Omar Rojas Guillermo Sosa-Gmez |
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Institution: | 1.Facultad de Matemática y Computación, Instituto de Criptografía, Universidad de la Habana, Habana 10400, Cuba; (L.C.R.); (E.J.M.-C.); (C.M.L.-P.);2.Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Universidad Panamericana, Álvaro del Portillo 49, Zapopan, Jalisco 45010, Mexico; |
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Abstract: | Entropy makes it possible to measure the uncertainty about an information source from the distribution of its output symbols. It is known that the maximum Shannon’s entropy of a discrete source of information is reached when its symbols follow a Uniform distribution. In cryptography, these sources have great applications since they allow for the highest security standards to be reached. In this work, the most effective estimator is selected to estimate entropy in short samples of bytes and bits with maximum entropy. For this, 18 estimators were compared. Results concerning the comparisons published in the literature between these estimators are discussed. The most suitable estimator is determined experimentally, based on its bias, the mean square error short samples of bytes and bits. |
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Keywords: | entropy estimation cryptography randomness undersample |
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