1. Introduction
The Internet of Things (IoT) is a rapidly growing network of interconnected devices—sensors, actuators, cameras, appliances, vehicles, and more—that communicate and exchange data over the internet. While IoT offers immense benefits in automation, smart living, and industry, it also introduces significant security vulnerabilities due to its distributed, low-power, and always-connected nature.
Cryptography is the backbone of data security in IoT. It ensures confidentiality, integrity, authentication, and non-repudiation of data exchanged between devices. However, applying cryptography in IoT comes with unique challenges due to limited resources in IoT devices.
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2. Why Security is Critical in IoT
IoT applications often deal with sensitive data:
Smart Homes: Voice commands, door locks, camera feeds.
Healthcare IoT: Patient vitals, prescriptions, real-time monitoring.
Industrial IoT (IIoT): Sensor data, machine control, factory operations.
Smart Cities: Surveillance, traffic control, utilities.
Vehicles (V2X): Location, driving behavior, road safety systems.
Without strong cryptographic mechanisms, IoT systems are vulnerable to:
Eavesdropping
Man-in-the-middle (MITM) attacks
Spoofing
Data tampering
Device hijacking (e.g., Mirai botnet)
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3. Cryptographic Goals in IoT
Cryptography helps IoT devices achieve:
a) Confidentiality
Ensures that sensitive data is readable only by authorized parties.
b) Integrity
Prevents unauthorized alterations in transmitted data.
c) Authentication
Verifies the identity of communicating devices or users.
d) Authorization
Controls access rights to resources.
e) Non-repudiation
Ensures that a party cannot deny actions it performed (useful in logging or auditing).
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4. Cryptographic Techniques in IoT
A. Symmetric Cryptography
Same key is used for both encryption and decryption.
Fast and computationally lightweight.
Example algorithms: AES, RC5, TEA, ChaCha20.
🔒 AES (Advanced Encryption Standard):
Widely used in IoT for securing data at rest and in transit.
AES-128 or AES-256 provide strong security even on constrained devices.
🔑 Key Challenge: Secure key distribution is difficult, especially in dynamic or large-scale IoT networks.
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B. Asymmetric Cryptography
Uses public and private key pairs.
Supports secure key exchange, authentication, and digital signatures.
Example algorithms: RSA, ECC (Elliptic Curve Cryptography)
🔐 ECC is preferred in IoT because:
Smaller key sizes (e.g., ECC-256 vs. RSA-2048)
Less computation and power usage.
✍️ Use Case: Devices sign messages with a private key; servers verify with a public key.
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C. Hash Functions
Convert data to a fixed-size hash value.
Used for data integrity checks and password storage.
Example algorithms: SHA-256, SHA-3
🔄 IoT devices often send a hash of the message to ensure it hasn't been tampered with.
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D. Digital Signatures
Prove data origin and integrity using asymmetric