We analyze the security of the SEED block cipher against differential attacks. SEED is a 16-round Feistel cipher developed
by the Korea Information Security Agency. The SEED proposers estimated their cipher against differential cryptanalysis in
a self-estimation document and found a six-round differential characteristic with probability 2-130. We present an improved
method of examining the differential characteristics of SEED and show three six-round differential characteristics with probability
2-124. These characteristics allow us to attack sevenround SEED, which surpasses the proposers estimation. Our differential attack
needs 2126 chosen-plaintext pairs and 2126 computations of the F function to deduce the subkey used in the last round of seven-round SEED.
Keywords symmetric block cipher - SEED - differential attack - characteristic - probability