Ascon

Full Title

Lightweight Authenticated Encryption and Hashing

Context

ASCON was designed by Christoph Dobraunig, Maria Eichlseder, Florian Mendel and Martin Schläffer from Graz University of Technology, Infineon Technologies, and Radboud University. It is both a lightweight hashing and encryption method. ASCON uses a single lightweight permutation with Sponge-based modes of operation and an SPN (substitution–permutation network) permutation.

Overall it has an easy method of implementing within hardware (2.6 gate equivalents) and software. A 5-bit S-box (as used in Keccak’s S-box core) is used to enable a lightweight approach, and it has no known side-channel attacks. It can also achieve high throughputs, such as throughputs of between 4.9 and 7.3 Gbps. It stores its current state with 320 bits. Overall, ASCON won the NIST competition for a lightweight cryptography standard.

References

• A Security Site .com https://asecuritysite.com/ASCON