CryptoDB
AETHER: An Ultra-High Throughput and Low Energy Authenticated Encryption Scheme
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| Abstract: | 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. |
BibTeX
@article{tches-2025-35242,
title={AETHER: An Ultra-High Throughput and Low Energy Authenticated Encryption Scheme},
journal={IACR Transactions on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems},
publisher={Ruhr-Universität Bochum},
volume={2025},
pages={705-742},
url={https://tches.iacr.org/index.php/TCHES/article/view/12062},
doi={10.46586/tches.v2025.i2.705-742},
author={Subhadeep Banik and Andrea Caforio and Tatsuya Ishikawa and Takanori Isobe and Mostafizar Rahman and Kosei Sakamoto},
year=2025
}