Survey on the nonlinearity of Boolean functions

Abstract

The symmetric key ciphers namely stream ciphers and block ciphers have a major role of Boolean functions in their construction. This is because they are able to provide ciphers with strengthening properties to resist known and potential cryptanalytic attacks. One of the important cryptographic properties that a strong Boolean function required is nonlinearity. A high value of nonlinearity must be possessed by Boolean functions so as to endure linear and correlation attacks. The study of lower or upper bound of nonlinearity of different types of Boolean functions such as resilient function, Carlet-feng function, MAI function, bent function, Tu-deng function etc. is the main aim of this paper.