Context-Aware Security–Energy Optimization for Lightweight Cryptography in Resource-Constrained IoT Devices

Abstract

In recent times, the swift growth of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has led to the rise in demand for lightweight security mechanisms that can safeguard sensitive information in challenging conditions with restrictions with regard to energy, memory, and computational resources. Traditional cryptographic solutions can provide strong protection but may involve high computational and energy costs that are unreasonable for most of the IoT devices. Additionally, usage of static settings for cryptographic means does not solve the problem of dynamic security requirements related to IoT environments changeable conditions of operating. In this paper, Context-Aware Security–Energy Optimization (CASEO) framework is proposed to address the issue of effective cryptographic solutions selection and implementation in IoT devices. It can be accomplished due to the analysis of contextual information such as energy margins available for the device, computational capabilities, communication conditions, and security needs in the selected application region. An adaptive honeybee optimization mechanism has been utilized for determining Pareto-optimal configurations in the security-energy search space. The framework integrates constraints to avoid selecting configurations satisfying energy requirements at the expense of excessive security degradation. The proposed approach has been assessed through comparisons with standard lightweight cryptographic configurations and with advanced multi-objective optimization strategies based on the parameters such as security, energy consumption, execution time, latency, and quality of optimization. In this way, the framework makes it possible to develop a method for balancing security and resources utilization.

Keywords: Internet of Things, lightweight cryptography, context-aware security, multi-objective optimization, energy efficiency, resource-constrained devices, Honey Bee Optimization, cryptographic configuration, IoT security, security–energy trade-off.