Green Cryptography: Cleaner Engineering through Recycling
by Justin Troutman and Vincent Rijmen
Green cryptography is a school of thought that observes a natural progression of cryptographic primitives from the moment they're designed to the moment they're deployed. A twofold argument supports its overall reliance on recycling: first, if we're comfortable, cryptanalytically-speaking, with a design strategy, component, or primitive, we should attempt to recycle it. This makes sense because the most compelling reason to use a design strategy, component, or primitive is that it has "earned its bones." Second, to ensure implementation simplicity, we should recycle primitives whenever and wherever possible. This also makes sense because complexity is the culprit behind nearly all instances of cryptography failing in practice.
