Analysis of the Cryptography Methods for Design of Crypto-Processor

Abstract

With the fast progression of the internet, information security is becoming more important every day in data transmission and storage. Protecting digital data and maintaining information security have been achieved through the use of cryptographic algorithms. Most popular cryptographic algorithms are the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) and Data Encryption Standard (DES). Encryption operation changes a plain text data to distorted data called ciphertext. The original text can be retrieved with a special key from the ciphertext. This study aims to analyze cryptographic algorithms on hardware solutions. Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) and Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) have been used to produce crypto-processors. In this study, the chosen algorithms are implemented on FPGAs due to their fast and easy programming capabilities. We have used the Xilinx ISE synthesis tool, ModelSim SE simulation tool, and Xilinx Spartan-6 FPGA platforms for implementation and functionality verification of the designed circuits. FPGA based implementation of AES and DES algorithms are compared in terms of Speed, Memory, and Processing Time. Study results show that AES needs less processing time than DES does for embedded and portable applications.