Modified whirlpool hash based bloom filter for networking and security applications

Bloom is an efficient data structure technique. Initially it was used in intelligent dictionaries and spell check applications. Its ability for dynamic membership querying and information compaction attracted huge research. Various optimization models of bloom filter for diverse applications were suggested and hence many bloom filter variants emerged. Network security has become an important factor in the recent years. In this paper, we propose a new variant of bloom filter in which a standard cryptographic hash function whirlpool is modified into a non cryptographic form and deployed in the bloom filter to improve the network security. We also suggest a suitable mapping scheme. A cryptographic hash function is one which converts an input data of arbitrary length into a fixed-length output. Bloom Filters are hash based structures which have a certain degree of accuracy for considerable savings in memory and are used to support membership queries. Bloom Filters allow probability of False Positive Ratios and the aim of this paper is to reduce FPR by modifying the structure of bloom filter and enabling it to operate in the increasing network speed. The design has been implemented and tested using a Xilinx 65 nm field programmable gate array as the target technology and the results are compared with replacing the housing unit with widely used universal H3 hash function and also relatively compared with the other possible hash functions and bloom filters in literature. The performance matrices of the proposed design are false positive ratio and speed. The design is hardware based and suitable for networking and security querying applications.