ASCON Lightweight Security Standard for the Internet of Things Devices—A Study

The pervasive influence of IoT is marked by the growing demand for smart devices in various sectors encompassing homes, industries, agriculture, and healthcare. However, amid the myriad of challenges hindering its widespread adoptability, securing these resource-limited devices is paramount. Addressing this challenge necessitates the design of robust and resource-friendly security primitives that can guarantee these devices comprehensive security solutions incorporating confidentiality, integrity, and authentication. Recognizing this, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) instigated the process of standardizing Lightweight Authenticated Encryption with Associated Data (AEAD) and selected ASCON as the lightweight standardized solution for securing low-end devices. This paper explores ASCON and various algorithms encompassing the ASCON cipher suite, including AEAD, hashing, and message authentication. Furthermore, the paper reviews the research concerning the implementation of ASCON, specifically focusing on studies conducted using the state-of-the-art ARM Cortex-M cores in light of several evaluation metrics, including RAM and ROM memory footprint and execution speeds. The comprehensive evaluation helps decide the suitability of ASCON variants for securing constrained IoT applications.