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A review of lightweight block ciphers

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Abstract

Embedded systems are deployed in various domains, including industrial installations, critical and nomadic environments, private spaces and public infrastructures. Their operation typically involves access, storage and communication of sensitive and/or critical information that requires protection, making the security of their resources and services an imperative design concern. The demand for applicable cryptographic components is therefore strong and growing. However, the limited resources of these devices, in conjunction with the ever-present need for smaller size and lower production costs, hinder the deployment of secure algorithms typically found in other environments and necessitate the adoption of lightweight alternatives. This paper provides a survey of lightweight cryptographic algorithms, presenting recent advances in the field and identifying opportunities for future research. More specifically, we examine lightweight implementations of symmetric-key block ciphers in hardware and software architectures. We evaluate 52 block ciphers and 360 implementations based on their security, performance and cost, classifying them with regard to their applicability to different types of embedded devices and referring to the most important cryptanalysis pertaining to these ciphers.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by the General Secretarial Research and Technology (GSRT), Hellas under the Artemis JU research program nSHIELD (new embedded Systems arcHItecturE for multi-Layer Dependable solutions) project. Call: ARTEMIS-2010-1, Grand Agreement No.: 269317.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronic and Computer Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Akrotiri Campus, 73100, Chania, Crete, Greece

    George Hatzivasilis, Konstantinos Fysarakis & Ioannis Papaefstathiou

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Rochester Institute of Technology Dubai, Techno Building, 341055, Silicon Oasis, Dubai, UAE

    Charalampos Manifavas

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  1. George Hatzivasilis
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  2. Konstantinos Fysarakis
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Correspondence to George Hatzivasilis.

Appendix

Appendix

In this appendix, we evaluate block cipher implementations as they are reported in the literature. Table 3 indicates the features of the examined block cipher and the best publicly known cryptanalysis results. Tables 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 summarize hardware and software implementations, respectively.

Table 3 The general characteristics of each examined cipher
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Table 4 Hardware implementations of block ciphers on \(0.18\,\upmu \)m technology
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Table 5 Hardware implementations of block ciphers on \(0.13\,\upmu \)m technology
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Table 6 Hardware implementations of block ciphers on \(0.09\,\upmu \)m technology
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Table 7 Hardware implementations of block ciphers on 0.25 and \(0.35\,\upmu \)m technology
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Table 8 Software implementations of block ciphers on 8-bit microcontrollers
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Table 9 Software implementations of block ciphers on 16-bit microcontrollers
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Table 10 Software implementations of block ciphers on 32-bit microcontrollers
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Hatzivasilis, G., Fysarakis, K., Papaefstathiou, I. et al. A review of lightweight block ciphers. J Cryptogr Eng 8, 141–184 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13389-017-0160-y

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