FPGA implementation of multi-chaos-based dynamic sbox for robust cryptosystem
Abstract
With the increased use of mobile networks these days, it is important to protect our personal data passing through these unprotected radio channels against AI-facilitated attacks. To offer a high level of data protection, we proposed in this work a dynamic version of the ZUC algorithm designed by the Data Assurance and Communication Security Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and standardized by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) organization to ensure the LTE (Long Term Evolution of radio networks) confidentiality and integrity. The principle relies on combining two chaotic maps to generate dynamic S-boxes that replace the static S-boxes of the original algorithm ( S 0 and S 1 ). To keep the same performance of the standardized algorithm and eliminate any additional latency, the dynamic S-boxes are generated in parallel during its initialization mode, where the Cipher Key (CK) and the Initialization Vector (IV) are loaded to initialize the internal registers. To improve the randomness of the generated keystream, we bitwise XORed the standard output with a chaotic sequence using a third chaotic map. To test the feasibility and suitability of our proposal for real applications, we performed an FPGA-based implementation using the Xilinx XC7Z020 PYNQ-Z2 platform, then evaluated its resistance to cryptanalysis attacks using the most well-known security tests (keystream distribution, randomness and correlation, key sensitivity, plaintext sensitivity, keyspace complexity, and NIST statistical tests). As expected, the experimental results demonstrated the enhanced security level of the ZUC algorithm and its suitability for new generations of mobile communications.
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BibTeX
@article{madani2026fpga,
title = {{FPGA implementation of multi-chaos-based dynamic sbox for robust cryptosystem}},
author = {Mahdi Madani and El-Bay Bourennane and Safwan El-Assad},
journal = {High-Confidence Computing},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.hcc.2026.100419},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05805962v1},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - FPGA implementation of multi-chaos-based dynamic sbox for robust cryptosystem
AU - Mahdi Madani
AU - El-Bay Bourennane
AU - Safwan El-Assad
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
JO - High-Confidence Computing
DO - 10.1016/j.hcc.2026.100419
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05805962v1
AB - With the increased use of mobile networks these days, it is important to protect our personal data passing through these unprotected radio channels against AI-facilitated attacks. To offer a high level of data protection, we proposed in this work a dynamic version of the ZUC algorithm designed by the Data Assurance and Communication Security Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and standardized by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) organization to ensure the LTE (Long Term Evolution of radio networks) confidentiality and integrity. The principle relies on combining two chaotic maps to generate dynamic S-boxes that replace the static S-boxes of the original algorithm ( S 0 and S 1 ). To keep the same performance of the standardized algorithm and eliminate any additional latency, the dynamic S-boxes are generated in parallel during its initialization mode, where the Cipher Key (CK) and the Initialization Vector (IV) are loaded to initialize the internal registers. To improve the randomness of the generated keystream, we bitwise XORed the standard output with a chaotic sequence using a third chaotic map. To test the feasibility and suitability of our proposal for real applications, we performed an FPGA-based implementation using the Xilinx XC7Z020 PYNQ-Z2 platform, then evaluated its resistance to cryptanalysis attacks using the most well-known security tests (keystream distribution, randomness and correlation, key sensitivity, plaintext sensitivity, keyspace complexity, and NIST statistical tests). As expected, the experimental results demonstrated the enhanced security level of the ZUC algorithm and its suitability for new generations of mobile communications.
SN - 2667-2952
SN - 2667-2952
ER -