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Differential cryptanalysis
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<p><a href="/facts/Differential_(mathematics)/YmSDWCol">Differential</a> cryptanalysis is a general form of <a href="/facts/Cryptanalysis/7CPEQlJI">cryptanalysis</a> applicable primarily to <a href="/facts/Block_cipher/MJywAyfQ">block ciphers</a>, but also to stream ciphers and cryptographic hash functions. In the broadest sense, it is the study of how differences in information input can affect the resultant difference at the output. In the case of a <a href="/facts/Block_cipher/MJywAyfQ">block cipher</a>, it refers to a set of techniques for tracing differences through the network of transformation, discovering where the cipher exhibits <a href="/facts/Non-randomness/QJQBoEX5">non-random behavior</a>, and exploiting such properties to recover the secret key (cryptography key). </p>