Recent Developments in Lightweight Cryptography: Alzette and SPARKLE

In this talk I present the family of lightweight cryptographic permutations SPARKLE with a focus on its core component — the ARX-based S-box Alzette. SPARKLE and Alzette are at the heart of our submission to the ongoing competition for new standards in lightweight cryptography organised by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

On March 29, 2021, SPARKLE was selected as one of the ten finalists entering the final round of the competition, out of 56 initial submissions.