A Lightweight Symmetric DNA Encryption Algorithm Inspired by Protein Synthesis (SDEAP) for IoT Devices

and confidentiality of data generated and exchanged between IoT devices is essential and becomes an important issue that needs further research. IoT resource- constrained devices are often characterized by a limited computation, small memory size and limited battery. So it is difficult to use traditional encryption methods that require more computational power. In this paper, aAnew lightweight symmetric DNA encryption algorithm inspired by protein synthesis (SDEAP) is proposed. It is inspired by central dogma of molecular biology and uses the randomness of DNA chromosomes to extract a strong OTP key. We exploited features found during protein synthesis to design an algorithm containing simple steps with complex security levels, making the resulting ciphertext difficult to decipher. Plaintext and key are both converted into proteins. Then aAnew XOR operation between proteins is performed to produce ciphertext in protein form. Unlike other works we propose another encryption level to transmit securely the generated keys with ciphertext in an optimal size message. Cooja simulator available in Contiki OS is used to simulate SDEAP in IoT environment. The findings show the effectiveness of SDEAP in terms of time and power consumption that is less by 60% and 93%, compared to SIMON and PRESENT respectively.