thinQmaster Virtual testing partner Adaptive practice exams that find your weak spots and drill them. Every answer explained. From $69
Enroll

thinQmaster

Find your exam

Five questions free, before you decide.

Step 1 · choose a vendor

In one of our camps? Your practice exams come with the tuition — they are on your study page already.

Security Fundamentals & Crypto · Advanced

Lightweight Cryptography

Cryptographic algorithms designed for constrained devices with limited power, memory, and processing.

Definition

Lightweight cryptography targets IoT sensors, RFID tags, and embedded systems where AES-GCM may be too costly. NIST selected the Ascon family in 2023 and published SP 800-232 for Ascon-based AEAD, hashing, and XOF functions. It trades some margin for efficiency while targeting at least 112-bit security.

Example

A battery-powered medical sensor uses Ascon-AEAD128 to encrypt telemetry.

Exam tip

Choose lightweight cryptography (or ECC) when the scenario stresses low-power IoT devices.

Related terms