{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,2,26]],"date-time":"2026-02-26T15:25:10Z","timestamp":1772119510391,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)","issue":"5","funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000190","name":"U.S. Department of Commerce","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["70NANB18H219"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["70NANB18H219"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000190","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["dl.acm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["ACM Trans. Embed. Comput. Syst."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,30]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Cryptographic competitions have played a significant role in stimulating the development and release of open hardware for cryptography. The primary reason was the focus of standardization organizations and other contest organizers on transparency and fairness of hardware benchmarking, which could be achieved only with all source code made available for public scrutiny. Consequently, the number and quality of open-source hardware implementations developed during subsequent major competitions, such as AES, SHA-3, and CAESAR, have steadily increased. However, most of these implementations were still quite far from being used in future products due to the lack of countermeasures against side-channel analysis (SCA). In this article, we discuss the first coordinated effort at developing SCA-resistant open hardware for all finalists of a cryptographic standardization process. The developed hardware is then evaluated by independent labs for information leakage and resilience to selected attacks. Our target included the 10 finalists of the NIST lightweight cryptography standardization process. The authors\u2019 contributions included formulating detailed requirements, publicizing the submissions, matching open hardware with suitable SCA-evaluation labs, developing a subset of all implementations, serving as one of the six evaluation labs, performing field-programmable gate array benchmarking of all protected and unprotected implementations, and summarizing results in the comprehensive report. Our results confirm that NIST made the right decision in selecting Ascon as a future lightweight cryptography standard. They also indicate that at least three other algorithms, Xoodyak, TinyJAMBU, and ISAP, were very strong competitors and outperformed Ascon in at least one of the evaluated performance metrics.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1145\/3677320","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,7,18]],"date-time":"2024-07-18T00:06:27Z","timestamp":1721261187000},"page":"1-25","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["Lightweight Champions of the World: Side-Channel Resistant Open Hardware for Finalists in the NIST Lightweight Cryptography Standardization Process"],"prefix":"10.1145","volume":"24","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1264-7197","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kamyar","family":"Mohajerani","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical and Computer Engineering, George Mason University","place":["Fairfax, United States"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0007-5257-4662","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luke","family":"Beckwith","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical and Computer Engineering, George Mason University","place":["Fairfax, United States"]},{"name":"PQSecure Technologies","place":["Fairfax, United States"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-8032-6012","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Abubakr","family":"Abdulgadir","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"PQSecure Technologies","place":["Boca Raton, United States"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7036-6433","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jens-Peter","family":"Kaps","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical and Computer Engineering, George Mason University","place":["Fairfax, United States"]}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5050-8748","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Kris","family":"Gaj","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Electrical and Computer Engineering, George Mason University","place":["Fairfax, United States"]}]}],"member":"320","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,12]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_2","unstructured":"NIST. 2023. AES Development. Retrieved July 24 2024 from https:\/\/csrc.nist.gov\/projects\/cryptographic-standards-and-guidelines\/archived-crypto-projects\/aes-development"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/FPL.2010.84"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_2","unstructured":"Georg T. Becker Jim Cooper Elizabeth K. DeMulder Gilbert Goodwill Joshua Jaffe Gary Kenworthy T. Kouzminov Andrew J. Leiserson Mark E. Marson Pankaj Rohatgi and Sami Saab. 2013. Test Vector Leakage Assessment (TVLA) Methodology in Practice. Retrieved July 24 2024 from https:\/\/api.semanticscholar.org\/CorpusID:28168779"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_2","first-page":"4","volume-title":"Proceedings of the 2014 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility","author":"Bhasin Shivam","year":"2014","unstructured":"Shivam Bhasin, Jean-Luc Danger, Sylvain Guilley, and Zakaria Najm. 2014. NICV: Normalized Inter-Class Variance for detection of side-channel leakage. In Proceedings of the 2014 International Symposium on Electromagnetic Compatibility. 4."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Andrea Caforio Daniel Collins Subhadeep Banik and Francesco Regazzoni. 2022. A small GIFT-COFB: Lightweight bit-serial architectures. In Progress in Cryptology\u2014AFRICACRYPT 2022. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 13503. Springer 53\u201377. DOI:10.1007\/978-3-031-17433-9_3","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-17433-9_3"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Andrea Caforio Daniel Collins Subhadeep Banik and Francesco Regazzoni. 2022. A Small GIFT-COFB: Lightweight Bit-Serial Architectures. Retrieved July 24 2024 from https:\/\/github.com\/qantik\/cofbserial","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-17433-9_3"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Ga\u00ebtan Cassiers Benjamin Gr\u00e9goire Itamar Levi and Fran\u00e7ois-Xavier Standaert. 2021. Hardware private circuits: From trivial composition to full verification. IEEE Transactions on Computers 70 10 (2021) 1677\u20131690. DOI:10.1109\/TC.2020.3022979","DOI":"10.1109\/TC.2020.3022979"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"A. Adam Ding Cong Chen and Thomas Eisenbarth. 2016. Simpler faster and more robust t-test based leakage detection. In Constructive Side-Channel Analysis and Secure Design. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 9689. Springer 163\u2013183. DOI:10.1007\/978-3-319-43283-0_10","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-319-43283-0_10"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Christoph Dobraunig Maria Eichlseder Stefan Mangard Florian Mendel Bart Mennink Robert Primas and Thomas Unterluggauer. 2021. ISAP v2.0 Submission to NIST. https:\/\/isap.iaik.tugraz.at\/files\/isapv20.pdf","DOI":"10.46586\/tosc.v2020.iS1.390-416"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/FCCM.2008.42"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_12_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Sebastian Faust Vincent Grosso Santos Merino Del Pozo Clara Paglialonga and Fran\u00e7ois-Xavier Standaert. 2018. Composable masking schemes in the presence of physical defaults & the robust probing model. IACR Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems 2018 3 (2018) 89\u2013120. DOI:10.46586\/tches.v2018.i3.89-120","DOI":"10.46586\/tches.v2018.i3.89-120"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_13_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3605769.3623987"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_14_2","unstructured":"Gilbert Goodwill Benjamin Jun Josh Jaffe and Pankaj Rohatgi. 2011. A Testing Methodology for Side-Channel Resistance Validation. NIST."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_15_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/2996366.2996426"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_16_2","unstructured":"Ekawat Homsirikamol William Diehl Ahmed Ferozpuri Farnoud Farahmand Panasayya Yalla Jens-Peter Kaps and Kris Gaj. 2016. CAESAR Hardware API. Retrieved July 24 2024 from https:\/\/eprint.iacr.org\/2016\/626"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_17_2","unstructured":"International Organization for Standardization and International Electrotechnical Commission. 2024. Testing Methods for the Mitigation of Non-Invasive Attack Classes against Cryptographic Modules. ISO. https:\/\/www.iso.org\/standard\/82422.html"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_18_2","unstructured":"Khaled Karray. 2023. Mitigating Side-Channel Attacks in Post Quantum Cryptography (PQC) with Secure-IC Solutions. Retrieved July 24 2024 from https:\/\/www.secure-ic.com\/blog\/physical-attacks\/interview-about-side-channel-attacks\/"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_19_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"David Knichel Amir Moradi Nicolai M\u00fcller and Pascal Sasdrich. 2022. Automated generation of masked hardware. IACR Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems 2022 1 (2022) 589\u2013629. DOI:10.46586\/tches.v2022.i1.589-629","DOI":"10.46586\/tches.v2022.i1.589-629"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_20_2","volume-title":"Handbook of Biological Statistics (3rd ed.)","author":"McDonald John H.","year":"2014","unstructured":"John H. McDonald. 2014. Handbook of Biological Statistics (3rd ed.). Sparky House Publishing. https:\/\/www.biostathandbook.com\/HandbookBioStatThird.pdf"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_21_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kamyar Mohajerani Luke Beckwith Abubakr Abdulgadir Eduardo Ferrufino Jens-Peter Kaps and Kris Gaj. 2023. SCA Evaluation and Benchmarking of Finalists in the NIST Lightweight Cryptography Standardization Process. Retrieved July 24 2024 from https:\/\/eprint.iacr.org\/2023\/484","DOI":"10.1145\/3677320"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_22_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kamyar Mohajerani Richard Haeussler Rishub Nagpal Farnoud Farahmand Abubakr Abdulgadir Jens-Peter Kaps and Kris Gaj. 2020. FPGA Benchmarking of Round 2 Candidates in the NIST Lightweight Cryptography Standardization Process: Methodology Metrics Tools and Results. Retrieved July 24 2024 from https:\/\/eprint.iacr.org\/2020\/1207","DOI":"10.23919\/DATE51398.2021.9473930"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_23_2","unstructured":"Kamyar Mohajerani and Rishub Nagpal. n.d. xeda: Cross EDA Abstraction and Automation. Retrieved July 24 2024 from https:\/\/github.com\/XedaHQ\/xeda"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_24_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Thorben Moos and Amir Moradi. 2021. Countermeasures against static power attacks: Comparing exhaustive logic balancing and other protection schemes in 28 nm CMOS. IACR Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems 2021 3 (2021) 780\u2013805. DOI:10.46586\/tches.v2021.i3.780-805","DOI":"10.46586\/tches.v2021.i3.780-805"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_25_2","unstructured":"Amir Moradi. 2017. How to evaluate side-channel leakages. Workshop on hardware Benchmarking 2017 Bochum Germany."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_26_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Amir Moradi Bastian Richter Tobias Schneider and Fran\u00e7ois-Xavier Standaert. 2018. Leakage detection with the x2-Test. IACR Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems 2018 1 (2018) 209\u2013237.","DOI":"10.46586\/tches.v2018.i1.209-237"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_27_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Nicolai M\u00fcller and Amir Moradi. 2022. PROLEAD: A probing-based hardware leakage detection tool. IACR Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems 2022 4 (2022) 311\u2013348. DOI:10.46586\/tches.v2022.i4.311-348","DOI":"10.46586\/tches.v2022.i4.311-348"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_28_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Svetla Nikova Christian Rechberger and Vincent Rijmen. 2006. Threshold implementations against side-channel attacks and glitches. In Information and Communications Security. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 4307. Springer 529\u2013545. DOI:10.1007\/11935308_38","DOI":"10.1007\/11935308_38"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_29_2","unstructured":"NIST. 2018. Submission Requirements and Evaluation Criteria for the Lightweight Cryptography Standardization Process. Retrieved July 24 2024 from https:\/\/csrc.nist.gov\/CSRC\/media\/Projects\/Lightweight-Cryptography\/documents\/final-lwc-submission-requirements-august2018.pdf"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_30_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Mark Randolph and William Diehl. 2020. Power side-channel attack analysis: A review of 20 years of study for the layman. Cryptography 4 2 (2020) 15. DOI:10.3390\/cryptography4020015","DOI":"10.3390\/cryptography4020015"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_31_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Debapriya Basu Roy Shivam Bhasin Sylvain Guilley Annelie Heuser Sikhar Patranabis and Debdeep Mukhopadhyay. 2019. CC meets FIPS: A hybrid test methodology for first order side channel analysis. IEEE Transactions on Computers 68 3 (2019) 347\u2013361. DOI:10.1109\/TC.2018.2875746","DOI":"10.1109\/TC.2018.2875746"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_32_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Tobias Schneider and Amir Moradi. 2015. Leakage assessment methodology: A clear roadmap for side-channel evaluations. In Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems\u2014CHES 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 9293. Springer 495\u2013513. DOI:10.1007\/978-3-662-48324-4_25","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-662-48324-4_25"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_33_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Meltem Sonmez Turan Kerry McKay Donghoon Chang Lawrence E. Bassham Jinkeon Kang Noah D. Waller John M. Kelsey and Deukjo Hong. 2023. Status Report on the Final Round of the NIST Lightweight Cryptography Standardization Process. NIST IR 8454. NIST. DOI:10.6028\/NIST.IR.8454","DOI":"10.6028\/NIST.IR.8454"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_34_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Fran\u00e7ois-Xavier Standaert. 2019. How (not) to use Welch\u2019s t-test in side-channel security evaluations. In Smart Card Research and Advanced Applications. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 11389. Springer 65\u201379. DOI:10.1007\/978-3-030-15462-2_5","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-15462-2_5"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_35_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","unstructured":"Corentin Verhamme Ga\u00ebtan Cassiers and Fran\u00e7ois-Xavier Standaert. 2023. Analyzing the leakage resistance of the NIST\u2019s Lightweight Crypto Competition\u2019s Finalists. In Smart Card Research and Advanced Applications. Lecture Notes in Computer Science Vol. 13820. Springer 290\u2013308. DOI:10.1007\/978-3-031-25319-5_15","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-031-25319-5_15"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_36_2","unstructured":"Bryan Weeks Mark Bean Tom Rozylowicz and Chris Ficke. 2000. Hardware Performance Simulations of Round 2 Advanced Encryption Standard Algorithms. NIST."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_37_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-34618-8_9"}],"container-title":["ACM Transactions on Embedded Computing Systems"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1145\/3677320","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,27]],"date-time":"2025-09-27T12:15:10Z","timestamp":1758975310000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/3677320"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,12]]},"references-count":36,"journal-issue":{"issue":"5","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,30]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1145\/3677320"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/3677320","relation":{},"ISSN":["1539-9087","1558-3465"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1539-9087","type":"print"},{"value":"1558-3465","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,12]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2024-02-15","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2024-05-16","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2025-09-12","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}