Design and implementation of a chaos-based lightweight encryption algorithm

In our rapidly digitalizing world, data security is becoming more and more important every day. Many encryption algorithms such as AES, DES, RSA provide satisfactory results in terms of security. However, due to their complex structures and high resource (CPU, RAM, energy, etc.) consumption, these algorithms are not suitable for resource constrained platforms such as IoT devices, wireless sensor networks, RFID systems. Within the scope of this thesis, a lightweight encryption algorithm has been developed to ensure data security for resource-constrained platforms. In this developed encryption algorithm, two different logistic maps were employed as random number generators. The initial parameters of the first map were directly derived from the secret key and the obtained output was used in the confusion phase. The initial parameters of the second map were determined using the secret key and the hash code of the original file and the obtained output was used in the diffusion phase. In this way, an algorithm that is resistant to brute force attacks with a key length of approximately 196 bits and has a high unpredictability level with an information entropy value of over 7.9970 was presented. The use of the second chaotic map in the diffusion phase provided NPCR values over 99.6% and UACI values around 33%, which shows the resistance of the proposed algorithm against differential attacks. Row and column based cyclic rotation operations increased the resistance of the algorithm against cropping attacks. Security and performance tests have shown that the developed algorithm offers above average security compared to its peers, speed tests have illustrated that it is much faster than its counterparts, and complexity analysis has presented that it has a very plain and simple structure. All these results show that the algorithm presented within the scope of the thesis is a strong alternative for resource-constrained systems.