TLS Cipher Suite: Secure Communication of 6LoWPAN Devices

Internet of Things (IoT) is a large-scale distributed network which connects smart products and things by the internet. Consequent to the exponential growth of this field is a rise in security and privacy challenges rooted in the vulnerability of smart hosts. This paper focuses on addressing a key security goal of the 6LoWPAN protocol for IoT devices - the need for a secure, yet lightweight encryption mechanism at the transport layer. Due to the highly resource-constrained nature of devices which operate with 6LoWPAN protocol, received messages are not individually checked at the application layer. End-to-end encryption measures cannot be implemented as intermediate routers in the sensor-networks used in IoT require access to entire message packets, as opposed to just the headers as in conventional networks. The 6LoWPAN protocol therefore relies on security measures which operate at the transport layer such as TLS. This paper aims to present a new, low-energy TLS cipher suite which serves a dual role as a secure hash function, thereby contributing to the stronger prevention of application layer threats such as message fabrication, interception and modification.