AETHER: An Ultra-High Throughput and Low Energy Authenticated Encryption Scheme

In this paper, we introduce AETHER, an authenticated encryption scheme that achieves ultra-high throughput and low energy consumption, supporting a 256- bit key and a 128-bit tag. While inspired by an AEGIS-like structure, AETHER stands out with a completely redesigned round-update function. We rep...

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Main Authors: Subhadeep Banik, Andrea Caforio, Tatsuya Ishikawa, Takanori Isobe, Mostafizar Rahman, Kosei Sakamoto
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Ruhr-Universität Bochum 2025-03-01
Series:Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems
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Online Access:https://tches.iacr.org/index.php/TCHES/article/view/12062
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author Subhadeep Banik
Andrea Caforio
Tatsuya Ishikawa
Takanori Isobe
Mostafizar Rahman
Kosei Sakamoto
author_facet Subhadeep Banik
Andrea Caforio
Tatsuya Ishikawa
Takanori Isobe
Mostafizar Rahman
Kosei Sakamoto
author_sort Subhadeep Banik
collection DOAJ
description In this paper, we introduce AETHER, an authenticated encryption scheme that achieves ultra-high throughput and low energy consumption, supporting a 256- bit key and a 128-bit tag. While inspired by an AEGIS-like structure, AETHER stands out with a completely redesigned round-update function. We replace the AES round function with a new inner function optimized for ultra-low latency and energy consumption. This function incorporates Orthros’s S-box and a 16x16 binary matrix from Akleylek et al., leading to a 1.56 times reduction in energy consumption and a 1.25 times reduction in delay compared to the AES round function. To further optimize hardware performance, we design the general construction of the roundupdate function to be more hardware-friendly, allowing parallel execution of the inner function on all 128-bit words, thereby enhancing both throughput and security against collision-based forgery attacks. AETHER achieves a throughput of 2.1 Tbit/s and an energy consumption of only 204.31 nJ, in the Nangate 15 nm standard cell library and a throughput of 5.23 Tbit/s and energy consumption of 1.83 nJ using the CNFET-OCL 5nm library, outperforming all existing AEADs.
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issn 2569-2925
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publishDate 2025-03-01
publisher Ruhr-Universität Bochum
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series Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems
spelling doaj-art-171a5ce3bffa42908d55a5643c7368e72025-08-20T03:05:45ZengRuhr-Universität BochumTransactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems2569-29252025-03-012025210.46586/tches.v2025.i2.705-742AETHER: An Ultra-High Throughput and Low Energy Authenticated Encryption SchemeSubhadeep Banik0Andrea Caforio1Tatsuya Ishikawa2Takanori Isobe3Mostafizar Rahman4Kosei Sakamoto5University of Lugano, Lugano, SwitzerlandlowRISC C.I.C., Cambridge, United KingdomUniversity of Hyogo, Kobe, JapanUniversity of Hyogo, Kobe, JapanUniversity of Hyogo, Kobe, JapanMitsubishi Electric Corporation, Kamakura, Japan; University of Hyogo, Kobe, Japan In this paper, we introduce AETHER, an authenticated encryption scheme that achieves ultra-high throughput and low energy consumption, supporting a 256- bit key and a 128-bit tag. While inspired by an AEGIS-like structure, AETHER stands out with a completely redesigned round-update function. We replace the AES round function with a new inner function optimized for ultra-low latency and energy consumption. This function incorporates Orthros’s S-box and a 16x16 binary matrix from Akleylek et al., leading to a 1.56 times reduction in energy consumption and a 1.25 times reduction in delay compared to the AES round function. To further optimize hardware performance, we design the general construction of the roundupdate function to be more hardware-friendly, allowing parallel execution of the inner function on all 128-bit words, thereby enhancing both throughput and security against collision-based forgery attacks. AETHER achieves a throughput of 2.1 Tbit/s and an energy consumption of only 204.31 nJ, in the Nangate 15 nm standard cell library and a throughput of 5.23 Tbit/s and energy consumption of 1.83 nJ using the CNFET-OCL 5nm library, outperforming all existing AEADs. https://tches.iacr.org/index.php/TCHES/article/view/12062Authenticated encryptionLow energyHigh throughputAEGIS-like construction
spellingShingle Subhadeep Banik
Andrea Caforio
Tatsuya Ishikawa
Takanori Isobe
Mostafizar Rahman
Kosei Sakamoto
AETHER: An Ultra-High Throughput and Low Energy Authenticated Encryption Scheme
Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems
Authenticated encryption
Low energy
High throughput
AEGIS-like construction
title AETHER: An Ultra-High Throughput and Low Energy Authenticated Encryption Scheme
title_full AETHER: An Ultra-High Throughput and Low Energy Authenticated Encryption Scheme
title_fullStr AETHER: An Ultra-High Throughput and Low Energy Authenticated Encryption Scheme
title_full_unstemmed AETHER: An Ultra-High Throughput and Low Energy Authenticated Encryption Scheme
title_short AETHER: An Ultra-High Throughput and Low Energy Authenticated Encryption Scheme
title_sort aether an ultra high throughput and low energy authenticated encryption scheme
topic Authenticated encryption
Low energy
High throughput
AEGIS-like construction
url https://tches.iacr.org/index.php/TCHES/article/view/12062
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AT takanoriisobe aetheranultrahighthroughputandlowenergyauthenticatedencryptionscheme
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