BORON: an ultra-lightweight and low power encryption design for pervasive computing

Abstract

We propose an ultra-lightweight, compact, and low power block cipher BORON. BORON is a substitution and permutation based network, which operates on a 64-bit plain text and supports a key length of 128/80 bits. BORON has a compact structure which requires 1939 gate equivalents (GEs) for a 128-bit key and 1626 GEs for an 80-bit key. The BORON cipher includes shift operators, round permutation layers, and XOR operations. Its unique design helps generate a large number of active S-boxes in fewer rounds, which thwarts the linear and differential attacks on the cipher. BORON shows good performance on both hardware and software platforms. BORON consumes less power as compared to the lightweight cipher LED and it has a higher throughput as compared to other existing SP network ciphers. We also present the security analysis of BORON and its performance as an ultra-lightweight compact cipher. BORON is a well-suited cipher design for applications where both a small footprint area and low power dissipation play a crucial role.