Compact implementation and performance evaluation of hash functions in ATtiny devices

The pervasive diffusion of electronic devices in security and privacy sensitive applications has boosted research in cryptography. In this context, the study of lightweight algorithms has been a very active direction over the last years. In general, symmetric cryptographic primitives are good candidates for low-cost implementations. For example, several previous works have investigated the performance of block ciphers on various platforms. Motivated by the recent SHA3 competition, this paper extends these studies to another family of cryptographic primitives, namely hash functions. We implemented different algorithms on an ATMEL AVR ATtiny45 8-bit microcontroller, and provide their performance evaluation. All the implementations were carried out with the goal of minimizing the code size and memory utilization, and are evaluated using a common interface. As part of our contribution, we make all the corresponding source codes available on a web page, under an open-source license. We hope that this paper provides a good basis for researchers and embedded system designers who need to include more and more functionalities in next generation smart devices.