After four years of testing, the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has announced its preferred encryption method for “lightweight cryptography” designed for use on low-power IoT devices.
Connected IoT devices such as viable, smart home gadgets, and even vehicle-to-vehicle technologies are all around us, and the key to their success is their small size. However, this comes with its own set of challenges, including less powerful chips than we’d typically see in a smartphone or computer. These are less able to handle traditionally heavier encryption methods, hence the introduction of a new standard.
Streamlined encryption will allow smaller devices to handle sensitive personal data, which can be great for wearables users who want to access their health data, for example.
ASCON encryption
The program envisaged a total of 57 proposals, which were later reduced 10 finalists (opens in new tab). An announcement explains:
“The decision was challenging as most of the finalists demonstrated performance advantages over NIST standards on various target platforms without raising security concerns.”
Ultimately, The choice fell on ASCON (opens in new tab) for its flexibility, power efficiency, and ability to run smoothly on less powerful hardware. It was also lauded for its longevity, having been around since 2014 and withstanding “years of scrutiny by cryptographers.”
NIST computer scientist Kerry McKay, explained (opens in new tab) that “one of the ASCON variants offers a certain level of resistance to the kind of attacks that a powerful quantum computer could throw”, indicating impressive resilience.
That means NIST has already done it started work on quantum-safe public-key cryptography algorithmswhich opened with 82 suggestions.
Going forward, this means that the number of devices that can securely exchange information will soon increase significantly as the age of seamless connectivity approaches.
