A Survey of Cryptographic Algorithms for Lightweight Authentication Schemes in the Internet of Things Environment

This paper discusses the cryptographic algorithms used in lightweight authentication schemes for the Internet of Things (IoT) systems. IoT systems contain sensors categorised as constraint devices with limitations in computing capability and limited power supply. Therefore, the traditional cryptographic algorithms are unsuitable for the IoT environment as they consist of complex processing and use vast amounts of energy to operate. In addressing this issue, researchers proposed lightweight cryptographic algorithms so that they can be used for securing authentication schemes for IoT systems. This area is proliferating, and many schemes have been proposed. However, a question arises as to how the lightweight features are achieved in the algorithms. Hence, this paper analyses the literature to fill the gap by conducting a scoping study to answer three pre-defined research questions. Our analysis demonstrates that lightweight features were primarily achieved using elliptic curve cryptography, hash functions and exclusive OR operation. Furthermore, three measures were mostly used in evaluating the schemes' effectiveness: security, low storage, and low computation cost. Finally, BAN logic, AVISPA, Proverif, and ROR were the three methods used for validating the authentication schemes again security attacks. This survey would help researchers understand lightweight cryptographic algorithms and decide on the standard performance measures and techniques for validating the authentication schemes, particularly for IoT systems.