Lightweight block ciphers play an indispensable role for the security in the context of pervasive computing. However,\nthe performance of resource-constrained devices can be affected dynamically by the selection of suitable cryptalgorithms,\nespecially for the devices in the resource-constrained devices and/or wireless networks. Thus, in this paper, we study\nthe trade-off between security and performance of several recent top performing lightweight block ciphers for the\ndemand of resource-constrained Industrial Wireless Sensor Networks. Then, the software performance evaluation\nabout these ciphers has been carried out in terms of memory occupation, cycles per byte, throughput, and a relative\ngood comprehensive metric. Moreover, the results of avalanche effect, which shows the possibility to resist possible\ntypes of different attacks, are presented subsequently. Our results show that SPECK is the software-oriented lightweight\ncipher which achieves the best performance in various aspects, and it enjoys a healthy security margin at the same\ntime. Furthermore, PRESENT, which is usually used as a benchmark for newer hardware-oriented lightweight ciphers,\nshows that the software performance combined with avalanche effect is inadequate when it is implemented. In the\nreal application, there is a need to better understand the resources of dedicated platforms and security requirement,\nas well as the emphasis and focus. Therefore, this case study can serve as a good reference for the better selection of\ntrade-off between performance and security in constrained environments.
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