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A lightweight block encryption algorithm for narrowband internet of things

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Abstract

With the increasingly prominent problem of data security in Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) terminal transmission, the existing cryptographic algorithms still have problems that cannot meet the security requirements of Narrowband Internet of Things terminal data and the low degree of lightweight. A lightweight block cryptographic algorithm SPNRX based on variant And-Rotate-XOR (ARX) structure and Substitute Permutation Network (SPN) structure is proposed. The proposed algorithm takes into account the unique security requirements of the NB-IoT terminal, such as simplifying the encryption process as far as possible, not too long encrypted data and high-security level, and reducing the number of encryption rounds. It overcomes the shortcoming that half of the block information of the ARX structure does not change during one round of encryption, to improve the diffusion speed. In addition, considering the security of keys and the cost of hardware implementation, a key schedule based on matrix transformation and P-box permutation is proposed. The security analysis of the SPNRX shows that the SPNRX is resistant to differential analysis, linear analysis, etc. Finally, the hardware and software performance of the SPNRX is tested. The experimental results show that the hardware implementation cost of the proposed algorithm is low; only 1357 GEs based on a 0.13 micron ASIC process are required. And the software implementation of the proposed algorithm performs well. Encryption and decryption of the proposed algorithm on the 64-bit processor take about 0.7748 ms and 0.7957 ms. And it requires 35.98 MB of memory resources. In addition, the algorithm's security strength and encryption effect are tested through key sensitivity, information entropy, etc. The results show that the proposed algorithm has high enough security.

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Acknowledgements

This present research work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61202458, 61403109), the Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province of China (No. LH2020F034).

Funding

The National Natural Science Foundation of China, 61202458, Guosheng Zhao, 61403109, Guosheng Zhao, Natural Science Foundation of heilongjiang Province, LH2020F034, Jian Wang.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Harbin Normal University, Harbin, 150025, China

    Guosheng Zhao & Huan Chen

  2. School of Computer Science and Technology, Harbin University of Science and Technology, Harbin, 150080, China

    Jian Wang

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  1. Guosheng Zhao
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  2. Huan Chen
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  3. Jian Wang
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Contributions

Guosheng Zhao: Conceptualization, methodology and revise the manuscript. Huan Chen: Complete the experiment, write the manuscript, and revise the manuscript together. Jian Wang: Investigation, funding acquisition and guidance.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Huan Chen.

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Zhao, G., Chen, H. & Wang, J. A lightweight block encryption algorithm for narrowband internet of things. Peer-to-Peer Netw. Appl. 16, 2775–2793 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12083-023-01559-w

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