Advancing Cryptographic Security: A Study on SHA-3 Implementation within CRYSTAL-KYBER Key-Encapsulation Mechanism Hardware

As quantum computing advances, it introduces profound risks to the security of cryptographic communications. Current cryptographic technologies, though advanced, fall short of quantum resistance. This research investigates the potential of lattice-based cryptography, specifically CRYSTALS-KYBER, to fulfill this need through superior performance and security. We present the hardware implementation of cryptographic primitives optimized for parallel operation in terms of area and frequency. These primitives, adhering to the SHA-3 standard and designed for KEM-768 level 3 security, have been synthesized to operate at 400 MHz frequency over a 130,069 μm2area using TSMC 65-nm technology. The implementation on Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA and subsequent comparative analysis establish our methodology's efficacy in advancing quantum-resistant cryptographic solutions.