Quark: A Lightweight Hash

The need for lightweight (that is, compact, low-power, low-energy) cryptographic hash functions has been repeatedly expressed by professionals, notably to implement cryptographic protocols in RFID technology. At the time of writing, however, no algorithm exists that provides satisfactory security an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cryptology Vol. 26; no. 2; pp. 313 - 339
Main Authors: Aumasson, Jean-Philippe, Henzen, Luca, Meier, Willi, Naya-Plasencia, María
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York Springer-Verlag 01.04.2013
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Coding and Information Theory
Combinatorics
Communications Engineering
Computational Mathematics and Numerical Analysis
Computer Science
Cryptography
Encryption
Equivalence
Exact sciences and technology
Hash based algorithms
Information, signal and communications theory
Lightweight
Networks
Power consumption
Probability Theory and Stochastic Processes
Quarks
Radio frequency identification
Radiolocalization and radionavigation
Security
Signal and communications theory
Telecommunications
Telecommunications and information theory
Hash functions
Cryptanalysis
Indifferentiability
Sponge functions
Lightweight cryptography
Performance evaluation
Stream ciphering
Energy function
Algorithm
Implementation
Crypt-analysis
Private key
Block ciphering
Security of data
Electric power consumption
Hashing
Software
Open market
Cryptography
Low-power electronics
Custom circuit
Message authentication
Radio frequency identification
ISSN:0933-2790, 1432-1378
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:The need for lightweight (that is, compact, low-power, low-energy) cryptographic hash functions has been repeatedly expressed by professionals, notably to implement cryptographic protocols in RFID technology. At the time of writing, however, no algorithm exists that provides satisfactory security and performance. The ongoing SHA-3 Competition will not help, as it concerns general-purpose designs and focuses on software performance. This paper thus proposes a novel design philosophy for lightweight hash functions, based on the sponge construction in order to minimize memory requirements. Inspired by the stream cipher Grain and by the block cipher KATAN (amongst the lightest secure ciphers), we present the hash function family Quark , composed of three instances: u-Quark , d-Quark , and s-Quark . As a sponge construction, Quark can be used for message authentication, stream encryption, or authenticated encryption. Our hardware evaluation shows that Quark compares well to previous tentative lightweight hash functions. For example, our lightest instance u-Quark conjecturally provides at least 64-bit security against all attacks (collisions, multicollisions, distinguishers, etc.), fits in 1379 gate-equivalents, and consumes on average 2.44 μW at 100 kHz in 0.18 μm ASIC. For 112-bit security, we propose s-Quark , which can be implemented with 2296 gate-equivalents with a power consumption of 4.35 μW.
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ISSN:0933-2790
1432-1378
DOI:10.1007/s00145-012-9125-6