We present an update of the Pelican MAC function, called Pelican 2.0. Both versions have the Alred construction and are based on Rijndael. they are a factor 2.5 more efficient than CBC-MAC with Rijndael, while providing a comparable claimed security level.
The difference between Pelican 2.0 and the original version is that the initial value changes from the all-zero string to another constant. The reason for this is the negative impact on security if key check values are available computed with a certain standard key check value algorithm that applies the block cipher to the zero string and takes as key check value its truncated output. The security impact of this on a number of standard MACs is studied in Cryptology ePrint Archive Report 2014/183 and the analysis carries over for Pelican.
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