Abstract
With the widespread application of the narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), its secure communication issues have become increasingly prominent. Traditional encryption algorithms do not perform well on resource-constrained NB-IoT devices, making it difficult to meet the needs of efficient and secure communication. To this end, this study proposes a lightweight end-to-end encryption protocol for NB-IoT based on Lattice cypher. This protocol takes advantage of the Lattice cryptosystem’s high security and parallel computing characteristics and designs an encryption scheme suitable for low power consumption and low bandwidth scenarios. Through experimental verification, the protocol performs well in terms of security, can provide up to 128 bits of security strength, and effectively resists various attacks. In terms of computing efficiency, compared with RSA and ECC encryption algorithms, the computing time of this protocol in key generation, encryption and decryption processes is reduced by 35%, 40% and 38%, respectively, significantly improving device operating efficiency. At the same time, this protocol controls the extra overhead of data transmission within 5%, far lower than the 10%–15% of traditional encryption protocols, effectively reducing communication costs. The NB-IoT lightweight end-to-end encryption protocol based on Lattice cipher proposed in this study provides an efficient and practical solution for secure communication in narrowband IoT and has a wide application prospect.
References
T. Zhang, F. Yu, T. Yang, and R. Liu, “D-IRA Codes Over Integer Rings for Lattice-Based Multiple Access,” Ieee Communications Letters, vol. 28, no. 12, pp. 2719–2723, 2024.
K.-S. Yu, and D.-W. Lim, “An Efficient Implementation Scheme for Lattice Reduction in the List-Decoding Algorithm for the Binary Goppa Codes,” Ieee Access, vol. 12, pp. 79519–79529, 2024.
H. Yu, and N. Wang, “Certificateless network coding proxy signatures from lattice,” Frontiers of Computer Science, vol. 17, no. 5, 2023.
T. Yang, “On Lattice Network Coding Based Cell-Free MIMO With Uncoordinated Base Stations,” Ieee Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 23, no. 8, pp. 9672–9686, 2024.
L. Mazur, D. Bollweg, D. A. Clarke, L. Altenkort, O. Kaczmarek, R. Larsen, H.-T. Shu, J. Goswami, P. Scior, H. Sandmeyer, M. Neumann, H. Dick, S. Ali, J. Kim, C. Schmidt, P. Petreczky, S. Mukherjee, and Q. C. D. C. Hot, “SIMULATeQCD: A simple multi-GPU lattice code for QCD calculations,” Computer Physics Communications, vol. 300, 2024.
S. Lyu, L. Liu, C. Ling, J. Lai, and H. Chen, “Lattice codes for lattice-based PKE,” Designs Codes and Cryptography, vol. 92, no. 4, pp. 917–939, 2024.
S. Kumari, M. Singh, R. Singh, and H. Tewari, “A post-quantum lattice based lightweight authentication and code-based hybrid encryption scheme for IoT devices,” Computer Networks, vol. 217, 2022.
E. Kirshanova, and E. Malygina, “Construction-D lattice from Garcia-Stichtenoth tower code,” Designs Codes and Cryptography, vol. 92, no. 5, pp. 1127–1142, 2024.
B. Hetenyi, and J. R. Wootton, “Creating Entangled Logical Qubits in the Heavy-Hex Lattice with Topological Codes,” Prx Quantum, vol. 5, no. 4, 2024.
M. Ganzhinov, and P. R. J. Ostergard, “Spherical Codes With Prescribed Signed Permutation Automorphisms Inside Shells of Low-Dimensional Integer Lattices,” Ieee Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 70, no. 12, pp. 8669–8674, 2024.
S. Dong, Y. Yao, Y. Zhou, and Y. Yang, “A Certificateless Linearly Homomorphic Signature Scheme Based on Lattice for Network Coding,” Computer Journal, vol. 67, no. 9, pp. 2739–2748, 2024.
T. Debris-Alazard, L. Ducas, N. Resch, and J.-P. Tillich, “Smoothing Codes and Lattices: Systematic Study and New Bounds,” Ieee Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 69, no. 9, pp. 6006–6027, 2023.
Y.-J. Yu, and C.-L. Wu, “Energy-Efficient Scheduling for Search-Space Periods in NB-IoT Networks,” IEEE Systems Journal, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 3974–3985, 2023.
Y.-J. Yu, Y.-C. Wang, and C.-H. Fan, “Control Period Adaptation and Resource Allocation for Joint Uplink and Downlink in NB-IoT Networks,” IEEE Internet of Things Journal, vol. 11, no. 9, pp. 16746–16757, 2024.
Y.-J. Yu, and S.-Y. Lo, “Energy-efficient non-anchor channel allocation in NB-IoT cellular networks,” Computer Networks, vol. 239, 2024.
T.-Y. Wu, R.-H. Hwang, A. Vyas, C.-Y. Lin, and C.-R. Huang, “Persistent Periodic Uplink Scheduling Algorithm for Massive NB-IoT Devices,” Sensors, vol. 22, no. 8, 2022.
A. M. Widodo, and H.-C. Chen, “An optimization NPUSCH uplink scheduling approach for NB-IoT application via the feasible combinations of link adaptation, Resource assignment and energy efficiency,” Computer Communications, vol. 218, pp. 276–293, 2024.
J. a. Tang, X. Zhu, L. Lin, C. Dong, and L. Zhang, “Monitoring routing status of UAV networks with NB-IoT,” Journal of Supercomputing, vol. 79, no. 17, pp. 19064–19094, 2023.
E. Saavedra, A. Santamaria, G. del Campo, and I. Gomez, “Leveraging IoT Harmonization: An Efficacious NB-IoT Relay for Integrating 6LoWPAN Devices into Legacy IPv4 Networks,” Applied Sciences-Basel, vol. 14, no. 8, 2024.
G. Zhao, H. Chen, and J. Wang, “A lightweight block encryption algorithm for narrowband internet of things,” Peer-to-Peer Networking and Applications, vol. 16, no. 6, pp. 2775–2793, 2023.
B. Yu, J. Zhao, K. Zhang, J. Gong, and H. Qian, “Lightweight and Dynamic Privacy-Preserving Federated Learning via Functional Encryption,” Ieee Transactions on Information Forensics and Security, vol. 20, pp. 2496–2508, 2025.
A. Yousaf, A. Razaq, and H. Baig, “A lightweight image encryption algorithm based on patterns in Rubik’s revenge cube,” Multimedia Tools and Applications, vol. 81, no. 20, pp. 28987–28998, 2022.
A. Shafique, A. Mehmood, M. Elhadef, and K. H. Khan, “A lightweight noise-tolerant encryption scheme for secure communication: An unmanned aerial vehicle application,” Plos One, vol. 17, no. 9, 2022.
A. Shafique, A. Mehmood, M. Alawida, A. N. Khan, and J. Shuja, “Lightweight image encryption scheme for IoT environment and machine learning-driven robust S-box selection,” Telecommunication Systems, vol. 88, no. 1, 2025.
I. Salam, W.-C. Yau, R. C. W. Phan, and J. Pieprzyk, “Differential fault attacks on the lightweight authenticated encryption algorithm CLX-128,” Journal of Cryptographic Engineering, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 265–281, 2023.
Q. Zhu, X. Yu, Y. Zhao, A. Nag, and J. Zhang, “QKD Key Provisioning With Multi-Level Pool Slicing for End-to-End Security Services in Optical Networks,” Ieee Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 2153–2169, 2024.
Z. Wang, J. Zhan, G. Zhang, D. Ouyang, and H. Guo, “An End-to-End Transfer Learning Framework of Source Recording Device Identification for Audio Sustainable Security,” Sustainability, vol. 15, no. 14, 2023.
D. Haridas, H. O. Prakash, R. Shukla, and R. P. Bhushan, “End-to-end data security with DMaya on IPFS: keyless secured private swarm for the closed user group,” International Journal of Parallel Emergent and Distributed Systems, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 279–291, 2024.
S. Ghosh, S. K. Verma, U. Ghosh, and M. Al-Numay, “Improved End-to-End Data Security Approach for Cloud Computing,” Sustainability, vol. 15, no. 22, 2023.
M. Ghalaii, P. Papanastasiou, and S. Pirandola, “Composable end-to-end security of Gaussian quantum networks with untrusted relays,” Npj Quantum Information, vol. 8, no. 1, 2022.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Cyber Security and Mobility
