Block Cipher Algorithm ARIA

Introduction

ARIA is a general-purpose involutional SPN block cipher algorithm, optimized for lightweight environments and hardware implementation.

The main characteristic of ARIA is as follows:

• Block size: 128 bits
• Key sizes: 128/192/256 bits (same as AES)
• Overall structure: Involutional Substitution-Permutation Network.
• Number of rounds: 12/14/16 (depending on the key size)

The ARIA specification document is here.

Most operations that ARIA uses are simple, byte-oriented ones like XOR in order to be competent in performance in lightweight environments.

The name ARIA is taken from the initials of Academia, Research Institute and Agency, acknowledging the co-operative efforts of Korean researchers in designing ARIA.

Standardization

In 2004, ARIA was established as a Korean Standard block cipher algorithm (KS X 1213) by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy.

Security and Performance

ARIA is designed to be resistant to all known attacks on block ciphers. Its security was analyzed initially by the designers internally, and later by the COSIC group of K.U. Leuven, Belgium.

ARIA is especially efficient in hardware implementations and 8-bit architectures, so that it is applicable to various environments like IC-cards, VPNs, etc. Also it is quite efficient in software implementations, faster than Camellia and approaching the performance of AES according to the software performance evaluation done by K.U. Leuven.

Specification

• [Download] ARIA Algorithm Specification (ARIA v. 1.0)
• [Download] ARIA Test Vectors

Supplementary documentation

The following documents are papers and reports on previous versions of the ARIA algorithm.

• [Download] New Block Cipher: ARIA, presented at ICISC 2004.
• [Download] Security and Performance Analysis of ARIA, a report written by the COSIC group of K.U. Leuven.

Questions and Comments

• If you have any question or comment about ARIA, please send e-mail to the following address :
  
• If you would like to obtain source codes for ARIA implementations, please fill in the following form and send us an e-mail to the above address.
  • [Download] ARIA Source Code Application Form

Last Updated: Oct. 2008