LiteHash: Hash Functions for Resource-Constrained Hardware

Abstract

The global paradigm shift towards edge computing has led to a growing demand for efficient integrity verification. Hash functions are one-way algorithms which act as a zero-knowledge proof of a datum’s contents. However, it is infeasible to compute hashes on devices with limited processing power and memory. Hence, we propose four novel LiteHash functions which are architecturally similar to SHA-512 yet simpler. By using various approximation techniques, our implementations reduce the computational costs of digesting a message into a hash. On validating our proposed designs using the NIST PRNG Test Suite, we observe SHA-512 equivalent cryptographic security while satisfying all desired hash function property requirements. We observe a minimum of 9.41% reduction in area, 20.47% reduction in power and 22.05% increase in throughput. Our designs offer a throughput of upto 2 Gbps while reducing area and power by a maximum of 16.86% and 32.48% respectively. LiteHash functions also support the computation of the entire SHA-2 family of hash functions (SHA-224/256/384/512) with minor architectural modifications.