{"id":211,"date":"2023-09-15T14:56:13","date_gmt":"2023-09-15T20:56:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/jacobson-cpsc\/?p=211"},"modified":"2023-09-15T15:10:23","modified_gmt":"2023-09-15T21:10:23","slug":"lightweight-cryptography-the-go-to-cryptography-for-iot-security","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpsites.ucalgary.ca\/jacobson-cpsc\/2023\/09\/15\/lightweight-cryptography-the-go-to-cryptography-for-iot-security\/","title":{"rendered":"Lightweight Cryptography: The go-to Cryptography for IoT Security\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Charles Odunaiya, Dev Patel, Harsh Patel, Nina Onwuachi, Saniya Jabir<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Internet of Things (IoT) <\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Buzzwords like Smart cities, Smart homes, and Smart Wearables have recently gained popularity on all fronts, both on social media and traditional platforms. The technical description of these words is the Internet of Things (IoT). According to Thakor et al. (2021), IoT is a network of connected devices, each with unique identification, able to collect and exchange data over the Internet with or without human interaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Cryptography? <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cryptography is a method used to safeguard information and communications by encoding them with codes, ensuring that only individuals for whom the information intends to understand and utilize it, preventing unauthorized access to it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cryptography relies on mathematical algorithms to protect information by transforming messages in a way that makes decoding difficult. They are also vital for secure online activities like browsing and safeguarding sensitive transactions (credit card information). (Follow, 2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some Cryptographic algorithms: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES): AES is the most widely adopted Cybersecurity algorithm. AES is a symmetric key encryption algorithm (encryption and decryption uses the same for their respective operation). Its swiftness and robust security features position AES as the go-to choice for instant messaging applications like WhatsApp and Signal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It works on fixed-size data (128 bits) and uses a key of variable size (128, 192, or 256 bits), which does a series of computations called rounds (10, 12, or 14 rounds depending on the key size) like Sub Bytes, Shift Rows, Mix Columns, and Add RoundKey.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA): SHA is a family of cryptographic functions designed to keep data secured. SHA produces a fixed-size string (the hash value that looks nothing like the original). A few algorithms of interest are SHA-1, SHA-2, and SHA-3, each of which was successively designed with increasingly more robust encryption in response to hacker attacks. SHA-0, for example, is now obsolete due to the widely exposed vulnerabilities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is Conventional Cryptography?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conventionally in cryptography, resources like memory, computation power, battery power, etc., have often been taken for granted as modern hardware for widely used devices like PCs, Servers, and mobile phones have enough of these resources to run the algorithms.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Conventional Cryptography, the same secret key is used to Encrypt and Decrypt the message. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back then, it was the only encryption method used before the development of public-key encryption. It processes quickly because it uses a single key for encryption and decryption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assuming Alice wants to send a message to Bob (plaintext). Alice encrypted the plaintext using an algorithm and a secret key to prevent hackers from reading the message. This encrypted plaintext is called Ciphertext. Using the same secret key and encryption algorithm run in reverse, Bob can get the message from Alice, and thus, the message is read only by Bob, and security is maintained.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The idea used in this technique is old, and that is why this model is called conventional encryption. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advantages of using Conventional Cryptography: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Simple <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Fast <\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Uses less computer resources\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A new frontier has recently opened for computing devices, i.e., IoT<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IoT devices are meant to have a small surface area, fast and narrow in their abilities. This feature also means that much data will be transferred through the networks, which must be secured.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Well, we very quickly realized that the IoT devices needed algorithms that used less resources like processing, storage and power and were faster to facilitate the real-time aspect of IoT devices. Here is where a new area of Cryptography, aptly named Lightweight Cryptography (LWC), emerged. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is Lightweight Cryptography (LWC)?<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lightweight Cryptography is an encryption method used by small devices with low computational capabilities. It aims to expand cryptography applications to constrained devices and its related international standardization and guidelines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main factors to take into consideration for LWC are: <\/p>\n\n\n\n