IOSHA - An Enhanced Hash Function for Secure and Efficient Key Generation in CRYSTALS-Dilithium for IoT

Quantum computing is rapidly approaching practical implementation, offering unprecedented processing power and problem-solving capabilities across diverse domains. However, this advancement also poses a significant challenge to the security of cryptographic systems. In response to this fact, there has been a push for standardizing cryptographic protocols that can withstand quantum attacks. Through a rigorous selection process, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has officially endorsed CRYSTALS-Dilithium as a leading lattice-based digital signature algorithm. While progress has been made in addressing computational challenges in polynomial multiplication, there persists a gap in research concerning hashing enhancements within CRYSTALS-Dilithium key generation. Therefore, developing a robust and secure key generation process for CRYSTALS-Dilithium, especially for Internet of Things (IoT) applications, is crucial. To overcome the limitation of key generation, we introduced an optimized hash function called IOSHA, which improves security compared to SHAKE-256 by utilizing dynamic parameters and constants. Integrating IOSHA into the key generation algorithm of CRYSTALS-Dilithium offers substantial improvements over traditional methods. This integration accelerates processing times while enhancing security against potential threats and maintaining resistance to MLWE-based hard problems without requiring hardware upgrades.