Advanced encryption standard (AES) and its hardware watermarking for ownership protection

In this era of consumer electronics, cyber security is one of the key challenges. Any security, privacy, or protection methods that are deployed rely on cryptography. Advance encryption standard (AES) is one of the heavily used cryptography algorithms for its advantages. This chapter is dedicated to the process of AES and its hardware design in the form of IP core. Several hardware security techniques rely on AES IP core as an important block. Additionally, since this is such an important core, its self-protection against forgery/piracy is also crucial. Thus, this chapter will also discuss about AES IP core protection using watermarking.