Securing IoT Devices with Enhanced Tiny Encryption Algorithm

The exponential growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has brought about significant security challenges, particularly due to their limited computational resources and deployment in critical applications such as smart cities, healthcare, and industrial automation. Traditional encryption methods, like AES, are often too resource-intensive for IoT devices, creating a pressing need for lightweight cryptographic solutions that effectively balance security and efficiency. The Tiny Encryption Algorithm (TEA) has gained wide adoption for its simplicity and minimal resource requirements, making it a suitable choice for constrained IoT environments. However, TEA’s fixed key scheduling mechanism leaves it vulnerable to cryptanalytic attacks, especially known-plaintext attacks. To address these vulnerabilities, this project introduces an enhanced version of TEA that incorporates a dynamic round key scheduling mechanism, improving its resilience against evolving security threats while preserving its lightweight characteristics. The enhanced TEA algorithm was rigorously evaluated against the original TEA in terms of speed, security effectiveness, and resource efficiency. The results demonstrate significant improvements in adaptability and robustness. Specifically, the enhanced TEA algorithm achieved a markedly stronger avalanche effect of 57.88%, compared to the original TEA’s 49%, highlighting its superior sensitivity to small changes in input. It also exhibited stronger resistance to differential cryptanalysis due to a more complex relationship between plaintext and ciphertext. Additionally, the entropy of the enhanced TEA was measured at 7.6265 bits per byte compared to 6.4380 bits per byte for Original TEA, reflecting a high level of randomness and unpredictability in its cipher text. In terms of overall security and performance, the enhanced TEA algorithm outperformed the original TEA. By offering a secure and efficient encryption solution tailored to the specific limitations and security demands of IoT ecosystems, this study contributes significantly to the field of IoT cryptography.