Design and FPGA Implementation of a New Customized AES for Sensitive Security Applications

The numerous security problems have sharply increased in this era due to the continual growth of hackers' abilities, necessitating stronger encryption methods to withstand current threats. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) combines robust security features, efficiency, and versatility. However, it may be vulnerable to some attacks in the coming years. Hence, some organizations use proprietary symmetric encryption algorithms tailored to their specific security needs or create customized AES with enhanced security features. This paper introduces a customized AES-256 to boost the security against potential cryptographic attacks without introducing significant computational burdens. The proposed algorithm is based on two adaptations: the first removes the round key dependencies using a novel key expansion module, while the second addresses the issues of using a well-known S-box by employing a key-dependent selected S-box throughout every round. The results indicate the proposed algorithm represents a substantial advancement over the standard AES by integrating innovative modifications that bolster both security and performance. The proposed algorithm presents an attractive option for contemporary cryptographic applications, specifically for encrypting data of the control channel for satellite communication.