Hardware Implementations of Scalable and Unified Elliptic Curve Cryptosystem Processors

As the amount of information exchanged through the network grows, so does the demand for increased security over the transmission of this information. As the growth of computers increased in the past few decades, more sophisticated methods of cryptography have been developed. One method of transmitting data securely over the network is by using symmetric-key cryptography. However, a drawback of symmetric-key cryptography is the need to exchange the shared key securely. One of the solutions is to use public-key cryptography. One of the modern public-key cryptography algorithms is called Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). The advantage of ECC over some older algorithms is the smaller number of key sizes to provide a similar level of security. As a result, implementations of ECC are much faster and consume fewer resources. In order to achieve better performance, ECC operations are often offloaded onto hardware to alleviate the workload from the servers' processors. The most important and complex operation in ECC schemes is the elliptic curve point multiplication (ECPM). This thesis explores the implementation of hardware accelerators that offload the ECPM operation to hardware. These processors are referred to as ECC processors, or simply ECPs. This thesis targets the efficient hardware implementation of ECPs specifically for the 15 elliptic curves recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The main contribution of this thesis is the implementation of highly efficient hardware for scalable and unified finite field arithmetic units that are used in the design of ECPs. In this thesis, scalability refers to the processor's ability to support multiple key sizes without the need to reconfigure the hardware. By doing so, the hardware does not need to be redesigned for the server to handle different levels of security. Unified refers to the ability of the ECP to handle both prime and binary fields. The resultant designs are valuable to the research community and industry, as a single hardware device is able to handle a wide range of ECC operations efficiently and at high speeds. Thus, improving the ability of network servers to handle secure transaction more quickly and improve productivity at lower costs

Reconfigurable Architecture for Elliptic Curve Cryptography Using FPGA

The high performance of an elliptic curve (EC) crypto system depends efficiently on the arithmetic in the underlying finite field. We have to propose and compare three levels of Galois Field , , and . The proposed architecture is based on Lopez-Dahab elliptic curve point multiplication algorithm, which uses Gaussian normal basis for field arithmetic. The proposed is based on an efficient Montgomery add and double algorithm, also the Karatsuba-Ofman multiplier and Itoh-Tsujii algorithm are used as the inverse component. The hardware design is based on optimized finite state machine (FSM), with a single cycle 193 bits multiplier, field adder, and field squarer. The another proposed architecture is based on applications for which compactness is more important than speed. The FPGA’s dedicated multipliers and carry-chain logic are used to obtain the small data path. The different optimization at the hardware level improves the acceleration of the ECC scalar multiplication, increases frequency and the speed of operation such as key generation, encryption, and decryption. Finally, we have to implement our design using Xilinx XC4VLX200 FPGA device

Reconfigurable elliptic curve cryptography

Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems (ECC) have been proposed as an alternative to other established public key cryptosystems such as RSA (Rivest Shamir Adleman). ECC provide more security per bit than other known public key schemes based on the discrete logarithm problem. Smaller key sizes result in faster computations, lower power consumption and memory and bandwidth savings, thus making ECC a fast, flexible and cost-effective solution for providing security in constrained environments. Implementing ECC on reconfigurable platform combines the speed, security and concurrency of hardware along with the flexibility of the software approach. This work proposes a generic architecture for elliptic curve cryptosystem on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) that performs an elliptic curve scalar multiplication in 1.16milliseconds for GF (2163), which is considerably faster than most other documented implementations. One of the benefits of the proposed processor architecture is that it is easily reprogrammable to use different algorithms and is adaptable to any field order. Also through reconfiguration the arithmetic unit can be optimized for different area/speed requirements. The mathematics involved uses binary extension field of the form GF (2n) as the underlying field and polynomial basis for the representation of the elements in the field. A significant gain in performance is obtained by using projective coordinates for the points on the curve during the computation process

Merging GF(p) Elliptic Curve Point Adding and Doubling on Pipelined VLSI Cryptographic ASIC Architecture

This paper merges between elliptic curve addition presents a modified processor architecture for Elliptic Curve Cryptography computations in Galois Fields GF(p). The architecture incorporates the methodology of pipelining to utilize the benefit of both parallel and serial implementations. It allows the exploitation of the inherited independency that exists in elliptic curve point addition and doubling operations using a single pipelined core. The processor architecture showed attraction because of its improvement over many parallel and serial implementations of elliptic curve crypto-systems. It proved to be efficient having better performance with regard to area, speed, and power consumption

Merging GF(p) Elliptic Curve Point Adding and Doubling on Pipelined VLSI Cryptographic ASIC Architecture

This paper merges between elliptic curve addition presents a modified processor architecture for Elliptic Curve Cryptography computations in Galois Fields GF(p). The architecture incorporates the methodology of pipelining to utilize the benefit of both parallel and serial implementations. It allows the exploitation of the inherited independency that exists in elliptic curve point addition and doubling operations using a single pipelined core. The processor architecture showed attraction because of its improvement over many parallel and serial implementations of elliptic curve crypto-systems. It proved to be efficient having better performance with regard to area, speed, and power consumption

A microcoded elliptic curve cryptographic processor.

Leung Ka Ho.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2001.Includes bibliographical references (leaves [85]-90).Abstracts in English and Chinese.Abstract --- p.iAcknowledgments --- p.iiiList of Figures --- p.ixList of Tables --- p.xiChapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.1Chapter 1.2 --- Aims --- p.3Chapter 1.3 --- Contributions --- p.3Chapter 1.4 --- Thesis Outline --- p.4Chapter 2 --- Cryptography --- p.6Chapter 2.1 --- Introduction --- p.6Chapter 2.2 --- Foundations --- p.6Chapter 2.3 --- Secret Key Cryptosystems --- p.8Chapter 2.4 --- Public Key Cryptosystems --- p.9Chapter 2.4.1 --- One-way Function --- p.10Chapter 2.4.2 --- Certification Authority --- p.10Chapter 2.4.3 --- Discrete Logarithm Problem --- p.11Chapter 2.4.4 --- RSA vs. ECC --- p.12Chapter 2.4.5 --- Key Exchange Protocol --- p.13Chapter 2.4.6 --- Digital Signature --- p.14Chapter 2.5 --- Secret Key vs. Public Key Cryptography --- p.16Chapter 2.6 --- Summary --- p.18Chapter 3 --- Mathematical Background --- p.19Chapter 3.1 --- Introduction --- p.19Chapter 3.2 --- Groups and Fields --- p.19Chapter 3.3 --- Finite Fields --- p.21Chapter 3.4 --- Modular Arithmetic --- p.21Chapter 3.5 --- Polynomial Basis --- p.21Chapter 3.6 --- Optimal Normal Basis --- p.22Chapter 3.6.1 --- Addition --- p.23Chapter 3.6.2 --- Squaring --- p.24Chapter 3.6.3 --- Multiplication --- p.24Chapter 3.6.4 --- Inversion --- p.30Chapter 3.7 --- Summary --- p.33Chapter 4 --- Literature Review --- p.34Chapter 4.1 --- Introduction --- p.34Chapter 4.2 --- Hardware Elliptic Curve Implementation --- p.34Chapter 4.2.1 --- Field Processors --- p.34Chapter 4.2.2 --- Curve Processors --- p.36Chapter 4.3 --- Software Elliptic Curve Implementation --- p.36Chapter 4.4 --- Summary --- p.38Chapter 5 --- Introduction to Elliptic Curves --- p.39Chapter 5.1 --- Introduction --- p.39Chapter 5.2 --- Historical Background --- p.39Chapter 5.3 --- Elliptic Curves over R2 --- p.40Chapter 5.3.1 --- Curve Addition and Doubling --- p.41Chapter 5.4 --- Elliptic Curves over Finite Fields --- p.44Chapter 5.4.1 --- Elliptic Curves over Fp with p>〉3 --- p.44Chapter 5.4.2 --- Elliptic Curves over F2n --- p.45Chapter 5.4.3 --- Operations of Elliptic Curves over F2n --- p.46Chapter 5.4.4 --- Curve Multiplication --- p.49Chapter 5.5 --- Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem --- p.51Chapter 5.6 --- Public Key Cryptography --- p.52Chapter 5.7 --- Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange --- p.54Chapter 5.8 --- Summary --- p.55Chapter 6 --- Design Methodology --- p.56Chapter 6.1 --- Introduction --- p.56Chapter 6.2 --- CAD Tools --- p.56Chapter 6.3 --- Hardware Platform --- p.59Chapter 6.3.1 --- FPGA --- p.59Chapter 6.3.2 --- Reconfigurable Hardware Computing --- p.62Chapter 6.4 --- Elliptic Curve Processor Architecture --- p.63Chapter 6.4.1 --- Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU) --- p.64Chapter 6.4.2 --- Register File --- p.68Chapter 6.4.3 --- Microcode --- p.69Chapter 6.5 --- Parameterized Module Generator --- p.72Chapter 6.6 --- Microcode Toolkit --- p.73Chapter 6.7 --- Initialization by Bitstream Reconfiguration --- p.74Chapter 6.8 --- Summary --- p.75Chapter 7 --- Results --- p.76Chapter 7.1 --- Introduction --- p.76Chapter 7.2 --- Elliptic Curve Processor with Serial Multiplier (p = 1) --- p.76Chapter 7.3 --- Projective verses Affine Coordinates --- p.78Chapter 7.4 --- Elliptic Curve Processor with Parallel Multiplier (p > 1) --- p.79Chapter 7.5 --- Summary --- p.80Chapter 8 --- Conclusion --- p.82Chapter 8.1 --- Recommendations for Future Research --- p.83Bibliography --- p.85Chapter A --- Elliptic Curves in Characteristics 2 and3 --- p.91Chapter A.1 --- Introduction --- p.91Chapter A.2 --- Derivations --- p.91Chapter A.3 --- "Elliptic Curves over Finite Fields of Characteristic ≠ 2,3" --- p.92Chapter A.4 --- Elliptic Curves over Finite Fields of Characteristic = 2 --- p.94Chapter B --- Examples of Curve Multiplication --- p.95Chapter B.1 --- Introduction --- p.95Chapter B.2 --- Numerical Results --- p.9