Communications Security (ComSec) Lab
200 University Ave. West
Waterloo, ON, Canada
N2L 3G1
Contact Guang Gong, Director, Communications Security Lab
The goal of lightweight cryptography (LWC) is to provide security and privacy in resource-constrained applications, embedded systems, Internet-of-Things (IoT), and cyber physical systems, including Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems, wireless sensor networks, vehicle ad-hoc networks, and healthcare. Recently, NIST has initiated a process towards standardizing lightweight cryptographic algorithms.
For instance, RFID is one of the most promising technologies, which has applications in supply chain management, e-passport, contactless cards, and identification system. In the RFID systems, there is a tension between security, flexibility, and rigidity. For instance, in a passive RFID system, the tags harvest power from the reader. Many of the algorithms (e.g., AES) in such system are resource heavy.
In many applications, one cryptographic primitive is not enough to secure the entire system. It is reasonable to assume that the available chip area dedicated for the security purpose should be used for encryption, authentication, hash computation, and possibly pseudorandom bit generation, which are the basic functionalities required by a security protocol.
We have designed four lightweight authenticated encryption with associated data (AEAD) algorithms, and one lightweight hash algorithms. Each algorithm is designed while keeping tragated applications in mind. The algorithms are round 1 candidates in the NIST LWC project. Currently, all four ciphers are in round 2 candidates, announced on August 30, 2019.
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Communications Security (ComSec) Lab
200 University Ave. West
Waterloo, ON, Canada
N2L 3G1
Contact Guang Gong, Director, Communications Security Lab
The University of Waterloo acknowledges that much of our work takes place on the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishinaabeg and Haudenosaunee peoples. Our main campus is situated on the Haldimand Tract, the land granted to the Six Nations that includes six miles on each side of the Grand River. Our active work toward reconciliation takes place across our campuses through research, learning, teaching, and community building, and is co-ordinated within our Office of Indigenous Relations.