Re: Cryptographic hash function for small microcontroller

From: Alex (ay43_at_pantheon.yale.edu)
Date: 03/25/04 

Date: 25 Mar 2004 04:23:38 -0800

daw@taverner.cs.berkeley.edu (David Wagner) wrote in message news:<c3tpt8$28oe$1@agate.berkeley.edu>...
> Sounds like you want a MAC or a PRF, not an unkeyed hash.
> Is that correct? If so, you might consider using Skipjack
> in one of the CBC-MAC modes of operation (OMAC is my favorite).
> Skipjack is quite good for many 8-bit microcontrollers, though
> Skipjack's 256-byte table may be problematic due to your
> shortage of program space. RC5 is also attractive, though
> patented.

I think you could benefit from looking at some papers on security in
sensor networks, such as SPINS paper on the project done in Berkeley
and others. This and other similar papers describe some lightweight
cryptographic primitives, which you could use.

I believe in fact several papers suggested using RC5 in theory.
Whether you can use it in practice, and how it relates to patents, is
another question :)

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