Cryptanalytic attack

Definition
A cryptanalytic attack is an "attack against a cipher that makes use of properties of the cipher." }}

Overview
Every cryptanalytic attack has its own attack model, some of which may or may not be applicable to specific implementations. Since the application of a cipher is generally unknown to the cipher designer, all possible models in the single key setting are considered when assessing the security of an algorithm.

Cryptanalytic attacks do not include implementation specific attacks, e.g. side channel analysis.