{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,28]],"date-time":"2026-01-28T00:25:54Z","timestamp":1769559954055,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]],"date-time":"2026-01-27T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769472000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Nuevas Herramientas Criptogr\u00e1fias para la E-comunidad","award":["Red CYTED 522RT0131"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["Red CYTED 522RT0131"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Cryptography"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This article presents general methodologies for plaintext attacks on block ciphers using the Tabu Search algorithm. These methods treat the cipher as a black box, with the objective of finding the session key. The primary innovation of our approach is the division of the key space into subsets based on a divisor, enabling the attack to focus on a specific portion of the total space. The following investigation demonstrates the successful application of these methods to a member of a block cipher family that includes the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) cipher. One of the proposed methodologies, the subregions path attack, enables navigation of the key session space by applying specific predetermined strategies within these subregions.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/cryptography10010008","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]],"date-time":"2026-01-27T10:27:11Z","timestamp":1769509631000},"page":"8","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["On Tabu Search for Block Cyphers Cryptanalysis"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"10","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0441-8282","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Adrian","family":"Donatien-Charon","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Matem\u00e1tica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Oriente, Av. Patricio Lumumba s\/n, Santiago de Cuba 90500, Cuba"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5656-0037","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mijail","family":"Borges-Quintana","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Departamento de Matem\u00e1tica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Exactas, Universidad de Oriente, Av. Patricio Lumumba s\/n, Santiago de Cuba 90500, Cuba"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7154-7730","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Miguel A.","family":"Borges-Trenard","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctorate Programm in Mathematics Education, Universidad Antonio Nari\u00f1o, Bogot\u00e1 111321, Colombia"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0681-3833","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Omar","family":"Rojas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Ciencias Econ\u00f3micas y Empresariales, Universidad Panamericana, \u00c1lvaro del Portillo 49, Zapopan 45010, Jalisco, Mexico"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7793-896X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Guillermo","family":"Sosa-G\u00f3mez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Facultad de Ciencias Econ\u00f3micas y Empresariales, Universidad Panamericana, \u00c1lvaro del Portillo 49, Zapopan 45010, Jalisco, Mexico"},{"name":"Laboratory for Reputation Management in Education, HSE University in Saint Petersburg, Griboedova Embankment, Saint Petersburg 190068, Russia"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,27]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Boura, C., and Naya-Plasencia, M. (2024). Symmetric Cryptography 1: Design and Security Proofs, Wiley. [1st ed.].","DOI":"10.1002\/9781394256358"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Boura, C., and Naya-Plasencia, M. (2024). Symmetric Cryptography 2: Cryptanalysis and Future Directions, Wiley. [1st ed.].","DOI":"10.1002\/9781394256327"},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"143","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-11623-0_11","article-title":"Measuring the Effectiveness of SAT-Based Guess-and-Determine Attacks in Algebraic Cryptanalysis","volume":"Volume 1618","author":"Sokolinsky","year":"2022","journal-title":"Parallel Computational Technologies"},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Crama, Y., and Hammer, P.L. (2010). Boolean Functions for Cryptography and Error Correcting Codes. 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