Cipher Benchmark & Choosing Algorithm and Encryption Mode

I was always searching for a benchmark of encryption algorithms every time I was going to encrypt a hard drive. Every time!

I was not able to remember my favorite cipher selection and in case I didn’t have a already encrypted hard drive by hand where I could check I was always Googling. At some point I realized that I end up on the same site again and again. So I will show the summary here since it is not that natty there. I am trusting the benchmark they made (just saying).

Celeron 2.93GHz CPU with Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 SATA 3Gb/s 1.5-TB ST31500341AS – RAW Speed: 105 MB/s
Intel Atom 330 with loopback device on RAM
Atom D525 (dual core 1.8 GHz) NAS box. It is running Ubuntu 11.04, Linux 2.6.38-8. There’s 4 GB of RAM, of which I used ~1 GB to create a ramdisk for the tests
CentOS 6 (2.6.32-71.29.1.el6.x86_64) with 16GB RAM (RAM-disk 11GB, file 10GB) – VM (only single) on ESXi5, 2 x Xeon E5530 48GB RAM
Virtual Maschine

Cipher			Key [bits]	Config 1 [MB/s]	Config 2 [MB/s]		Config 3 [MB/s]		Config 4 [MB/s]		Config 5 [MB/s]
Algorithm	Mode	IV		write	write	read	write	read	write	read	write	read
AES	ECB		128	67.50					121.56	151.59	43.48	58.82
		null		71.50
		plain		71.00
		benbi		71.20
			256	55.90					96.98	112.92	40.00	55.56
		null		59.50
		plain		60.30
		benbi		58.80
	CBC	null	128	67.10					100.85	139.72	43.48	55.56
		plain		66.80					100.97	139.70	17.24	18.87
		benbi		67.40					100.71	139.66	58.82	62.50
		essiv:sha256			29.20	31.70	44.89	45.33	98.02	134.77	41.67	62.50
		essiv:sha256	196		28.10	32.30	33.56	39.07
		null	256	57.00					84.46	105.69	35.71	55.56
		plain		56.40					84.22	105.70	43.48	52.63
		plain64							80.44	105.73	37.04	52.63
		benbi		56.70					81.42	105.47	28.57	45.45
		essiv:sha256			23.20	25.10	31.01	36.13	78.61	102.98	52.63	58.82
	CRT	plain	128	67.00					111.94	137.34	40.00	58.82
		null	256						86.65	103.91	11.11	27.03
		plain							86.33	103.99	23.26	40.00
		plain64							88.17	104.15	30.30	37.04
		benbi							85.65	103.93	14.08	31.25
		essiv:sha256							87.09	101.47	2.48	26.32
	XTS	plain	128		28.30	31.70
		plain	196		28.60	31.90
		null	256						112.00	137.21	40.00	58.82
		plain		61.60	31.20	33.90	45.53	43.89	111.06	137.08	50.00	62.50
		plain64							109.64	136.95	34.48	66.67
		benbi							113.97	137.12	47.62	62.50
		essiv:sha256							104.28	132.15	43.48	66.67
		plain	384				46.55	38.61			58.82	52.63
		null	512						85.78	104.07	62.50	58.82
		plain					41.11	36.15	88.78	103.80	66.67	58.82
		plain64							87.89	103.86	62.50	58.82
		benbi							90.01	103.76	43.48	62.50
		essiv:sha256							85.81	101.25	13.51	55.56
Blowfish				57.20							33.33	43.48
	ECB	plain		61.40					72.29	92.52	40.00	45.45
	CBC	plain							62.40	85.50	32.26	43.48
		essiv:sha256	128		22.80	27.50
		essiv:sha256	196		22.80	27.60
		essiv:sha256	256		23.40	27.60			63.32	84.16	21.74	23.81
	XTS	plain	128		23.10	27.10
		plain	196		23.00	27.20
		plain	256		22.70	27.40
Twofish				34.20							12.82	19.61
	CBC	plain							88.63	116.51
		essiv:sha256	128		22.90	26.20
		essiv:sha256	196		23.60	26.50
		essiv:sha256	256		23.50	26.60			86.34	113.89	34.48	45.45
	XTS	plain	128		23.20	26.20
		plain	196		23.30	26.40
		plain	256		24.70	27.10
		essiv:sha256	256						88.70	111.03	40.00	58.82
		essiv:sha256	512						91.41	111.04	55.56	52.63
Serpent				20.40
	CBC	essiv:sha256	128		22.30	25.20
		essiv:sha256	196		23.50	26.20
		essiv:sha256	256		22.90	24.50
	XTS	plain	128		23.00	25.60
		plain	196		24.30	26.20
		plain	256		23.90	26.10

How to choose an Encryption Mode

Electronic CodeBook (ECB) – message is divided into blocks and each block is encrypted separately => ECB should not be used if encrypting more than one block of data with the same key!
Cipher-Block Chaining (CBC), Output Feedback (OFB) and Cipher feedback (CFB) are similar – converts block cipher into a stream cipher, each block of plaintext is XORed with the previous ciphertext block before being encrypted
Counter Mode (CTR/CM) also known as Integer Counter Mode (ICM) and Segmented Integer Counter (SIC) mode – converts block cipher into a stream cipher, is used if you want good parallelization (ie. speed), instead of CBC/OFB/CFB but is also considered less secure since the speed is bought out with a weakness coming with the fact of using a simple deterministic input function.
[MYCHOICE] XOR-Encrypt-XOR (XEX)-based Tweaked-Codebook mode with Ciphertext Stealing (XTS) – for encoding of block data (like a hard disk or RAM)
Offset Codebook Mode (OCB) – for encoding of block data (like a hard disk or RAM) – both authentication and privacy, for encoding of block data (like a hard disk or RAM). Patents in USA.

UPDATE: Nice comparsion was posted by Shecky.

How to choose an Encryption Mode

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