Evaluating the Effectiveness of the BitCube Cryptosystem for IoHT Security Using a Hesitant Fuzzy AHP–TOPSIS Approach

The rapid proliferation of the Internet of Healthcare Things (IoHT) has significantly increased the reliance on Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) for real-time healthcare monitoring, data collection, and communication. However, ensuring secure, scalable, and efficient data transmission in resource-constrained IoHT environments remains a major challenge, as conventional cryptographic solutions often impose excessive computational and memory overhead. To address this issue, this study investigates the suitability of BitCube, a lightweight cryptosystem inspired by the structural transformations of a Rubik’s Cube, for securing IoHT applications. Designed to provide a balanced combination of confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and operational efficiency, BitCube aims to meet the stringent security and performance requirements of healthcare-oriented sensor networks while maintaining low resource consumption. To systematically evaluate its effectiveness, a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) framework integrating the Hesitant Fuzzy (HF) Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is employed. The proposed framework enables the incorporation of uncertainty and expert hesitation in the evaluation process, thereby providing a more realistic assessment of cryptographic alternatives. BitCube is compared with seven existing cryptosystems across multiple criteria, including execution efficiency, memory utilisation, scalability, authentication, and confidentiality. The results indicate that BitCube consistently achieves the highest overall ranking among the evaluated schemes, demonstrating superior suitability for resource-constrained IoHT environments, while the Lightweight Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) emerges as the second-best alternative. Furthermore, validation through comparison with other MCDM techniques reveals only minor variations in the ranking outcomes, confirming the robustness and reliability of the proposed evaluation framework. These findings highlight the potential of BitCube as a promising lightweight cryptographic solution for enhancing security in next-generation IoHT systems.