Post-Quantum Lightweight Encryption Algorithm for Internet of Things Devices

Abstract

The increasing use of Internet of Things (IoT) devices in various applications has led to a growing concern about their security. Many IoT devices have limited resources such as processing power, memory, and energy, which makes them vulnerable to attacks. Encryption is a fundamental security mechanism that can be used to protect data in transit and at rest. However, traditional encryption algorithms are often too complex and resource-intensive for IoT devices. In this paper, we propose a lightweight encryption algorithm for IoT devices that is designed to provide a balance between security and resource efficiency. The Sym-BRLE (Binary Ring-Learning encryption) algorithm, based on the binary ring-learning with an error's encryption algorithm, has been proposed to improve random number selection and polynomial multiplication calculations to meet IoT communication requirements. In addition, the algorithm adds encryption security measures to achieve high security and efficiency for lightweight IoT devices. The Sym-BRLE algorithm has high communication efficiency and a small key size, and it can reduce total encryption time by 30% to 40% compared to other BRLE-based encryption algorithms. In addition, security analysis shows that Sym- BRLE can resist grid attacks, timing attacks, simple energy, and differential energy analyses.