Enhancing IOT Security: Investigating Lightweight Encryption Algorithms for Resource-Constrained Devices

Abstract: In this work, we examine three LWCs: namely AES-128, SPECK, and ASCON, considering their presentation on resource-constrained IoT devices. With the large-scale deployment of IoT in all areas of industry, ensuring the security and efficiency of cryptographic implementations has become highly critical because typical IoT devices are usually characterized by limited memory, processing power, and energy resources. The study ascertains the memory usage, throughput, energy efficiency, and strength of security in the chosen algorithms by highly popular resource-constrained boards such as Arduino Nano and Arduino Micro. The benchmarks have shown that SPECK has the highest throughput, which is much efficient for constrained environments. One of the significant features of ASCON is that it has minimized memory usage and high energy efficiency. Therefore, it suits for long-term usage in IoT. AES-128 is secure but resource-intensive, so its usage may be irrelevant in very constrained environments. The results are of great value for IoT developers as a contribution to the selection of cryptographic algorithms based on the conditions and resource restrictions of the IoT devices involved so that optimized security solutions are achieved.