We’re thrilled to announce that our VP of Product Security and Innovation, Dr Axel Y Poschmann has been presented with the Test of Time Award at CHES 2026. The award is given yearly to honor a paper published at (T)CHES which has had a lasting impact on the field, and this year is no exception. While AES is the standard for most applications, it is too resource-intensive for ultra-constrained environments like RFID tags and sensor networks.
To solve this, Dr. Poschmann and his co-authors designed PRESENT, an ultra-lightweight block cipher engineered specifically for minimal hardware footprints. By prioritizing both security and extreme hardware efficiency:
- Minimal Footprint: PRESENT competes with compact stream ciphers, while maintaining the structural benefits of a block cipher.
- Global Standard: PRESENT was one of initially only two algorithms that have been included in the international light-weight cryptography standard ISO/IEC 29192-2.
- Foundation for IoT security: The design principles introduced in PRESENT laid the groundwork for modern Lightweight Cryptography, which is fundamental to Internet of Things (IoT) security, enabling safe, encrypted communication across billions of low-power devices worldwide.
Winning the Test of Time Award is an incredible milestone. It proves that great security research isn’t just about solving today’s problems. It’s about anticipating the needs of tomorrow’s technology ecosystem, pushing the boundaries of what’s possible in hardware and software security.
Read more here:
PRESENT: An Ultra-Lightweight Block Cipher
Authors: Andrey Bogdanov, Lars Knudsen, Gregor Leander, Christof Paar, Matt Robshaw, Yannick Seurin, and Christian Vikkelsoe