Speck-R: An ultra light-weight cryptographic scheme for Internet of Things

Abstract

Lightweight cryptography (LWC) is an interesting research area in the field of information security. Some limitations like: increased components usage, time consumption, power consumption and memory requirement mandate the need for lightweight cryptography. One of the proposed algorithms in this field is Speck which was designed by the National Security Agency (NSA) in June 2013. In this paper, we propose a new ultra-lightweight cryptographic algorithm based on Speck known as Speck-R. Speck-R is a hybrid cipher, combining ARX architecture with a dynamic substitution layer. The novelty in this paper resides in adding a key-dynamic substitution layer that changes according to a dynamic key. With this modification, the number of rounds can be reduced from 26 (in Speck) to 7 (in Speck-R). Thus, the main contribution of this paper consists in reducing the execution time of Speck by at least 18% on limited devices to reach a reduction of 77% while keeping a high level of security. To backbone Speck-R's security, different security and statistical tests are exerted on Speck-R. In addition, a real hardware implementation on three different famous IoT devices is also presented where Speck-R outperformed Speck in terms of execution times. Finally, extensive tests show that Speck-R possesses the necessary criteria to be considered as a good cipher scheme that is suitable for lightweight devices.

Parallel lightweight Block Cipher algorithm for Multicore CPUs

“…The authors in 11 proposed Speck-R a lightweight symmetric key cryptographic scheme designed specifically for IoT applications. It is designed to provide confidentiality and integrity for data transmitted over wireless networks, while minimizing the computational overhead required for encryption and decryption.…”

Software Implementation Solutions of A Lightweight Block Cipher to Secure Restricted IoT Environment: A Review

“… Number of rounds: execution times will be lowered by reducing the number of rounds. The number of rounds inversely proportional to security level complexity of the confusion and diffusion layer, in [61] based on Speck cipher, a hybrid cipher Speck-R presented which reduced the number of rounds from 26 to 7 and the execution time at least 18% for Speck by integrating ARX structure with a dynamic substitution layer.  Using bitwise operations and simple operations like modular addition can decrease the code size and RAM consumption.…”

Analysis the Structures of Some Symmetric Cipher Algorithms Suitable for the Security of IoT Devices

“…i), Ki which represents the (n bits) of round key specified for round (i), rotations operations defined by (>>> α, shift to right by α bits) and (<<< β, shift to left by β bits), modulo addition operation (), and the XOR operation (). The outputs of this round function identified by the left half output (Li+1) and right half output (Ri+1), in which can be computed as shown in the following formulas: [25] Li+1 = ((Li >>> α) R)) Ki, and Ri+1 = (Ri <<< β) Li+1…”