Graz University of Technology sets cryptography standards

© Lunghammer – Graz University of Technology

Authenticated encryption of information is aimed at ensuring that messages cannot be read or changed during transmission, posing significant challenges to systems, not least due to the rapid development of the Internet of Things.

The work of a team at the Graz University of Technology sets new standards in the field of cryptography. The ASCON algorithm developed in 2014 at the Institute of Applied Information Processing and Communications was submitted to the international Competition for Authenticated Encryption: Security, Applicability, and Robustness, also known as the CAESAR competition. The algorithm was tested for five years and assessed in terms of its cryptanalytic and practical security. It set such high standards of security and efficiency that the high-caliber jury selected the university’s encryption procedure as its primary recommendation for what are known as lightweight applications. These applications are used mainly for systems that do not run on expensive, high-end desktop PCs, notebooks and smartphones, for example typical everyday “smart” devices and industrial logistics modules with slow processors, small memory and a passive power supply.