Implementing and Benchmarking Three Lattice-Based Post-Quantum Cryptography Algorithms Using Software/Hardware Codesign

It has been predicted that within the next tenfifteen years, quantum computers will have computational power sufficient to break current public-key cryptography schemes. When that happens, all traditional methods of dealing with the growing computational capabilities of potential attackers, such as increasing key sizes, will be futile. The only viable solution is to develop new standards based on algorithms that are resistant to quantum computer attacks and capable of being executed on traditional computing platforms, such as microprocessors and FPGAs. Leading candidates for new standards include lattice-based post-quantum cryptography (PQC) algorithms. In this paper, we present the results of implementing and benchmarking three lattice-based key encapsulation mechanisms (KEMs) that have progressed to Round 2 of the NIST standardization process. Our implementations are based on a software/hardware codesign approach, which is particularly applicable to the current stage of the NIST PQC standardization process, where the large number and high complexity of the candidates make traditional hardware benchmarking extremely challenging. We propose and justify the choice of a suitable system-on-chip platform and design methodology. The obtained results indicate the potential for very substantial speed-ups vs. purely software implementations, reaching 28x for encapsulation and 20x for decapsulation.