The National Institute of Standards and Technology says it will publish the Ascon group of algorithms in its lightweight cryptography standard later this year.
WHY IT IMPORTANT
According to the announcement, NIST has found a “deserving defender” for data generated by small devices connected to the Internet of Things as a result of a four-year international competition.
In March 2019, NIST received 57 submissions and conducted a multi-round review process to test and test cryptocurrencies.
Ascon, designed by a team of cryptographers from Graz University of Technology, Infineon Technology, Lamarr Security Research and Radboud University, was one of 10 finalists.
According to the Computer Security Resource Center, the algorithms required for symmetric cryptocurrency applications require authenticated encryption with associated data.
AEAD allows data collectors, such as hospitals, to check the integrity of both encrypted and unencrypted information sent from small devices and sensors.
“Small devices have limited resources and they need security that has a compact deployment,” said Kerry McKay, the NIST computer scientist leading the effort.
NIST also requires that if a competitor uses a hash function to create a digital fingerprint of data, that function must share resources with AEAD to reduce implementation costs.
NIST says Ascon is a family of authenticated encryption and hashing algorithms designed to be lightweight and easy to implement, even with added countermeasures against side-channel attacks.
TREND TO BIGGER WOMAN
Hospitals report increased security risks posed by IoT devices and the Internet of Medical Things.
Exposure from connected biomedical devices can also pave the way for cybercriminals to take control of hospital systems and harm patients.
According to Jamie Wilson, executive chairman and founder of Cryptoloc Technology, the popularity of IoMT devices highlights the need to reinvent data security with encryption technology.
“With cryptographic technology, no one else has access to the information except the user himself,” he previously said. Healthcare IT News.
“There’s also a full audit trail where everything is date and time stamped, so you’ll know who accessed the file and where they accessed it from.”
ON PROFILE
“The world is moving towards the use of small devices for a variety of tasks, from sensing to identification to controlling machines,” McKay said in the announcement.
“These algorithms will cover most devices with these types of resource constraints.”
Andrea Fox is the senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: [email protected]
Healthcare IT News is a publication of HIMSS Media.
