A 177 Mb/s VLSI implementation of the International Data Encryption Algorithm

A VLSI implementation of the International Data Encryption Algorithm is presented. Security considerations led to novel system concepts in chip design including protection of sensitive information and on-line failure detection capabilities. BIST was instrumental for reconciling contradicting requirements of VLSI testability and cryptographic security. The VLSI chip implements data encryption and decryption in a single hardware unit. All important standardized modes of operation of block ciphers, such as ECB, CBC, CFB, OFB, and MAC, are supported. In addition, new modes are proposed and implemented to fully exploit the algorithm's inherent parallelism. With a system clock frequency of 25 MHz the device permits a data conversion rate of more than 177 Mb/s. Therefore, the chip can be applied to on-line encryption in high-speed networking protocols like ATM or FDDI.<
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