New Generation Computing, 23(2005)259-275
Ohmsha, Ltd. and Springer

Secure Evolvable Hardware for Public-key Cryptosystems

Nadia NEDJAH
Department of Electronics Engineering and Telecommunications
Engineering Faculty
State University of Rio de Janeiro
Rua São Francisco Xavier, 524
Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
nadia@eng.uerj.br
Luiza de MACEDO MOURELLE
Department of System Engineering and Computation
Engineering Faculty
State University of Rio de Janeiro
Rua São Francisco Xavier, 524
Maracanã, Rio de Janeiro RJ, Brazil
ldmm@eng.uerj.br

Received 31 March 2004
Revised manuscript received 30 June 2004

Abstract

In this paper, genetic programming is used as an alternative means to automatically generate secure and minimal hardware designs of public-key cryptosystems such as the RSA cryptosystem. We evolve optimal hardware circuits for modular exponentiation, which is a cornerstone operation in many public-key cryptographic system. The evolved circuits minimize both space (i.e. required gate number) and time (i.e. encryption and decryption time). The evolved designs are shielded against side-channel leakage and hence secure. The structure of the cryptographic circuit is random and so the private key cannot be deduced using known attacks. We compare our results against existing well-known designs, which were produced by human designers based on the binary method.

Keywords:Security, Cryptosystems, Modular Exponentiation, Digital Circuit, Evolutionary Hardware.

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