Elliptic curve cryptography based light weight technique for information security

Abstract

Recent breakthroughs in cryptographic technology are being thoroughly scrutinized due to their emphasis on innovative approaches to design, implementation, and attacks. Lightweight cryptography (LWC) is a technological advancement that utilizes a cryptographic algorithm capable of being adjusted to function effectively in various constrained environments. This study provides an in-depth analysis of elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), which is a type of asymmetric cryptographic method known as LWC. This cryptographic approach operates over elliptic curves and has two applications: key exchange and digital signature authentication. Next, we will implement asymmetric cryptographic algorithms and evaluate their efficiency. Elliptic curve elgamal algorithms are implemented for encryption and decryption of data. Elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman key exchange is used for sharing keys. Experimental results have shown that ECC needs small size keys to provide similar security. ECC takes less time in key generation, encryption and decryption of plain text. Time taken by ECC to generate a 2,048 bit long key is 1,653 milliseconds in comparison to 4,258 millisecond taken by Rivest-Shamir-Adleman (RSA) technique.