1. Introduction
With the adoption of 5G and future wireless technologies, the attack surface of communication networks is expanding. Traditional security protocols often fail to scale due to resource limitations in IoT and mobile devices. This calls for lightweight, yet robust, cryptographic solutions integrated into the network stack.
2. Proposed Framework
We propose a hybrid security model combining Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) for key exchange and the Speck cipher (developed by the NSA) for data encryption. ECC ensures secure and scalable key management, while Speck offers high-speed encryption with a smaller computational footprint, making it ideal for mobile and edge devices.
3. Security & Performance Analysis
Preliminary simulations indicate that our model achieves AES-comparable security with a 35% improvement in encryption time on ARM Cortex-M processors. The framework resists common attacks such as replay, man-in-the-middle, and side-channel threats, making it suitable for mobile and vehicular networks.
4. Conclusion and Future Work
This work demonstrates the feasibility of integrating lightweight cryptography in 5G infrastructure to support secure mobility. Future work involves real-world deployment in vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) and integration with blockchain for decentralized trust management.