An efficient permutation approach for SbPN-based symmetric block ciphers

AbstractIt is challenging to devise lightweight cryptographic primitives efficient in both hardware and software that can provide an optimum level of security to diverse Internet of Things applications running on low-end constrained devices. Therefore, an efficient hardware design approach that requires some specific hardware resource may not be efficient if implemented in software. Substitution bit Permutation Network based ciphers such as PRESENT and GIFT are efficient, lightweight cryptographic hardware design approaches. These ciphers introduce confusion and diffusion by employing a 4 × 4 static substitution box and bit permutations. The bit-wise permutation is realised by simple rerouting, which is most cost-effective to implement in hardware, resulting in negligible power consumption. However, this method is highly resource-consuming in software, particularly for large block-sized ciphers, with each single-bit permutation requiring multiple sub-operations. This paper proposes a novel software-based design approach for permutation operation in Substitution bit Permutation Network based ciphers using a bit-banding feature. The conventional permutation using bit rotation and the