Security Enhancement of MIL-STD-1553 Based on Lightweight Encryption Algorithms

MIL-STD-1553 is a widely employed data bus standard within the defense and aerospace domains. Recent studies on the security of MIL-STD-1553 have exposed vulnerabilities within its architecture. One major concern is that data is transmitted on the bus in plaintext without any authentication. An effective approach to addressing these vulnerabilities is the utilization of authenticated encryption algorithms, which enhance data integrity, confidentiality, and authentication. Nevertheless, implementing such methods introduces additional latency and complexity to any embedded system. This paper introduces a novel approach to enhance the security of MIL-STD-1553 by incorporating a high-throughput parallel Cipher-based Message Authentication Code based on a lightweight encryption algorithm, departing from the conventional use of the advanced encryption standard. The proposed design is developed using VHDL and implemented on the Zedboard ZYNQ-7000 FPGA kit. The simulation results demonstrate a significant improvement in system latency compared with other encryption algorithms.