Efficient FPGA implementation of block cipher MISTY1

NESSIE is a 3-year research project (2000-2002). The goal of the project is to put forward some algorithms to obtain a set of the next generation of cryptographic primitives. In order to achieve this objective, the project needs to evaluate mathematical security levels and software/hardware implementations. This paper investigates the significance of an FPGA implementation of the block cipher MISTY1. Reprogrammable devices such as FPGA´s are highly attractive solutions for hardware implementations of encryption algorithms. A strong focus is placed on a high throughput circuit which completely unrolls all the MISTY1 rounds and pipelines them in order to increase the data rate. Our design allows us to change the plaintext and the key on a cycle-by-cycle basis with no dead cycles. The final core implementation can work at a data rate up to 19.4 Gbps (303 MHz).