End-to-End Encryption in Resource-Constrained IoT Device

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) technologies will interconnect with a wide range of network devices, regardless of their local network and resource capacities. Ensuring the security, communication, and privacy protection of end-users is a major concern in IoT development. Secure communication is a significant requirement for various applications, especially when communication devices have limited resources. The emergence of IoT also necessitates the use of low-power devices that interconnect with each other for essential processing. These devices are expected to handle large amounts of monitoring and control data while having limited capabilities and resources. The algorithm used for secure encryption should protect vulnerable devices. Conventional encryption methods such as RSA or AES are computationally expensive and require large amounts of memory, which can adversely affect device performance. Simplistic encryption techniques are easily compromised. To address these challenges, an effective and secure lightweight cryptographic process is proposed for computer devices. This process utilizes a symmetrical encryption key block, incorporating a custom proxy network (SP) and a modified Feistel architecture. Security analysis and performance evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed protocol is secure and energy-efficient. The symmetric key encryption scheme is based on sequences in the Feistel cipher, with multiple rounds and sub-keys generated using principles derived from genetic algorithms. This proposed algorithm minimizes processing cycles while providing sufficient security.

Keywords

• Cryptography
• the IoT
• lightweight cryptography
• security