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Supporting Symmetric 128-bit AES in Networked Embedded Systems: An Elliptic Curve Key Establishment Protocol-on-Chip

EURASIP Journal on Embedded Systems volume 2007, Article number: 065751 (2007) Cite this article

Abstract

The secure establishment of cryptographic keys for symmetric encryption via key agreement protocols enables nodes in a network of embedded systems and remote agents to communicate securely in an insecure environment. In this paper, we propose a pure hardware implementation of a key agreement protocol, which uses the elliptic curve Diffie-Hellmann and digital signature algorithms and enables two parties, a remote agent and a networked embedded system, to establish a 128-bit symmetric key for encryption of all transmitted data via the advanced encryption scheme (AES). The resulting implementation is a protocol-on-chip that supports full 128-bit equivalent security (PoC-128). The PoC-128 has been implemented in an FPGA, but it can also be used as an IP within different embedded applications. As 128-bit security is conjectured valid for the foreseeable future, the PoC-128 goes well beyond the state of art in securing networked embedded devices.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

    Roshan Duraisamy & Zoran Salcic

  2. Department of Information, Systems and Production, University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Rome, 00173, Italy

    Maurizio Adriano Strangio

  3. Computer Science Department, National Institute for Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics, Puebla, 72840, Mexico

    Miguel Morales-Sandoval

Authors
  1. Roshan Duraisamy
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  2. Zoran Salcic
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  3. Maurizio Adriano Strangio
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  4. Miguel Morales-Sandoval
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roshan Duraisamy.

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Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Duraisamy, R., Salcic, Z., Strangio, M.A. et al. Supporting Symmetric 128-bit AES in Networked Embedded Systems: An Elliptic Curve Key Establishment Protocol-on-Chip. J Embedded Systems 2007, 065751 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1155/2007/65751

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2007/65751

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