Analysis and implementation of novel non-cryptographic hash functions

Abstract

Hash functions are vital building blocks for many networking and security applications. In these applications, the speed of hashing is of crucial importance, affecting the overall throughput of the system. The goal of this thesis is to design novel non-cryptographic hash functions based on reduced-round versions of symmetric-key ciphers, and to analyze the avalanche properties and timing characteristics of these algorithms. The considered ciphers are Speck, Pyjamask, GIFT, AES and Skinny. The number of rounds required are determined so that satisfactory avalanche properties are met, both with and without the addition of the key. After finding the optimal number of rounds, the timing properties are evaluated using hardware design tools. Each hash function is implemented as the reduced version of the original cipher on different FPGA platforms, both with and without the addition of a key. The maximum possible operating frequency is calculated and the resources required at that frequency are also measured. The throughput is calculated based on the maximum operating frequency. The analysis results show that different ciphers have different performance characteristics. Also, the obtained hash functions show better avalanche properties and outperform most of the existing non-cryptographic hash functions.