Ascon-based Secure Physical Authentication with Relay-Attack Resistance

This study proposes a new side-channel authentication method utilizing the lightweight cipher, Ascon. Traditional side-channel authentication has relied on challenge-response mechanisms to ensure confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity. However, by employing Ascon, an authenticated cipher, this research aims to achieve these security goals with a simple authentication algorithm without needing challenge-response communications. Furthermore, we effectively prevent the risk of recovering pre-shared keys by utilizing a side-channel attack countermeasure called leveled implementation. The system with the proposed method is particularly beneficial in environments requiring robust security measures, such as IoT applications dealing with sensitive data.