2025 Volume 19 Issue 1 Pages 7-14
Symmetric-key cryptography serves as a security infrastructure of digital societies. In particular, the importance of authenticated encryption (AE), which provides the confidentiality and authenticity of communication, has been widely recognized. On the other hand, since an AE scheme is generally costlier than plain encryption schemes, there is a growing need for lightweight AE suitable for use in constrained environments. With this background, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States conducted a standardization project for lightweight AE and selected Ascon as the sole winner in 2023. In this paper, we outline the specifications, security, and implementation aspects of Ascon.
