Dammam, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Internet of things (IoT) is a significant technology that makes anything in different environments communicate together over the internet. IoT sensors are not secure due to their limited power capabilities and memory space that do not allow the implementation of strong complex cryptosystems. Therefore, this invention aims to secure the data transmission between IoT sensors and their base station by designing a new lightweight cryptosystem called BitCube with consideration of the IoT sensors nature.

BitCube achieves the following security features: confidentiality, message authentication and device authentication. The BitCube’s time complexity, power, and memory space are calculated and tested to be suitable for limitations the sensors have. The successful implementation of the BitCube in a hardware environment without consuming the sensor is a real proof of the lightness of it. Tests showed that BitCube needs very low computing power compared to other known cypto systems. It also needs a very limited memory (less than 0.5 Kilobyte), and very low power consumption (0.18 to 0.23 Wats).

BitCube’s robustness comes from the fact that it uses two different continuously changeable encryption keys. It utilizes the concept of the Rubik’s Cube rotations in generating the encryption keys which results in a huge number of key possibilities. BitCube can defend against brute-force attacks, known-plaintext attack, chosen-plaintext attack, and cipher-text only attack.

The implementation of the BitCube will result in secure IoT environment. It will significantly decrease the huge number of expected attacks on the current insecure IoT sensors.

The inventors team comprises of Dr. Khalid Adnan Alissa, Dr. Abdulah Almuhadib, Hala Ehab Hamdy, Reem Alshareef, Reem Rawdhan, Rawan Alsleebi, Randa Abualrob. Moreover, Dr. Khalid Adnan Alissa is Cyber security consultant and Dean of Information and Communication Technology in Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University (IAU), having PhD in Computer and Information Security from Queensland University of Technology. He and his team are expert in cyber and information security.

The patent has been issued on March 16, 2021 with patent no. 10952069 by US Patent and Trademark Office. For more information access the link via the patent number https://portal.uspto.gov/pair/PublicPair

Review Edited by: Chairman, University Ranking Department