IoT-Key Agreement Protocol Based on The Lowest Work-Load Versions of The Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman

Abstract

A key agreement protocol (KAP) is a fundamental block in any cryptosystem since it ensures secure communication between two parties. Furthermore, KAP should include advanced features in limited-resource environments such as IoT, in which this protocol must be lightweight and efficient in consuming resources. Despite the Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (ECDH) algorithm having often been considered efficient in providing an acceptable security degree with less resource consumption, it has suffered from weakness against Man-In-The-Middle Attacks (MITMA). This paper presents two versions of the Variant Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman (VECDH) algorithms as a key agreement protocol. The security analysis indicates that the proposed algorithm could be more robust compared to the MITMA, in addition to several security features. The proposed algorithms scale down the computation complexity by decreasing the arithmetic operations, to make the algorithms the lowest workload and suitable for application in restricted resource environments.