Using the Algebraic Eraser to Secure Low-Power and Passive IoT Devices

Presented at ShmooCon XII (2016), Jan. 16, 2016, noon (60 minutes).

The Algebraic Eraser (AE) is a Group Theoretic Public-Key Cryptosystem originally published in 2006 and designed specifically to work in constrained devices with limited CPU and power capabilities such as RFID and Internet of Things (IoT) devices. Algebraic Eraser Diffie-Hellman (AEDH) provides a key-agreement protocol that performs significantly better than ECC at the same security level in both hardware and software. One hardware implementation in 65nm CMOS performs 60-200 times better than ECC in terms of speed and power usage. An ARM-based IoT implementation performed 60 times faster. And an FPGA implementation performs over 200 times faster using 400 times less power. Moreover, the basic building block of AE, called E-Multiplication, can be used to create a Hash, Block Cipher, PRNG, Stream Cipher, and a Signature Algorithm. Using AEDH we can add a proof-of-possession public-key authentication into extremely small devices like IoT and RFID and use that technology in identifying and authenticating objects to which the device is attached. This talk will present AEDH, the underlying math, and show how we're using AEDH to create an authentication and anti-counterfeiting solution.


Presenters:

  • Derek Atkins
    Derek Atkins is the Chief Technology Officer at SecureRF Corporation. He specializes in architecting, designing, developing, and deploying network and systems security applications. Previously he was a Senior Member of Technical Staff at Mocana Corporation, Senior Principal Software Engineer at Symantec (formally PGP Corporation), Senior Research Scientist at Telcordia Technologies (Bellcore), Chief Technology Officer at Arepa, Inc. (Into Networks) and a member of the technical staff at Sun Microsystems. He is active in the IETF and ISO standards bodies and has chaired multiple IETF Working Groups. He received his Bachelor and Master degrees from MIT.

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