{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T01:45:10Z","timestamp":1760147110678,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,7]],"date-time":"2023-01-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1673049600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"National Science Foundation of China","award":["61902156","62072217"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["61902156","62072217"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Symmetry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The advancement of the Internet of Things (IoT) has promoted the development of embedded devices. It is important to ensure data transmission security on embedded devices with limited computing power and storage space. However, the traditional block encryption algorithm cannot run efficiently on embedded devices because of the large amount of computation. In this paper, a lightweight length-preserving-encryption algorithm (LILP) is proposed to convert an n-bit block cipher into a special block cipher that supports an arbitrary length of no less than 2n bits as input. LILP adopts the involution design method based on a Lai\u2013Massey structure and lightweight components to adapt to the limited computing power of embedded devices. In particular, a lightweight compression function (LCF) is designed to process the data during iteration, which improves security without reducing the efficiency of the algorithm. The experimental results show that LILP is more efficient than traditional similar algorithms in encrypting data for resource-constrained devices while ensuring data security in the IoT.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/sym15010177","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,9]],"date-time":"2023-01-09T02:31:30Z","timestamp":1673231490000},"page":"177","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["LILP: A Lightweight Enciphering Algorithm to Encrypt Arbitrary-Length Messages"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7883-9258","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xing","family":"Zhang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science & Communication Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Jian","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science & Communication Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Tianning","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Electrical & Information Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Gang","family":"Dai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Daquan Group Co., Ltd., Zhenjiang 212211, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Changda","family":"Wang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Computer Science & Communication Engineering, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang 212013, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"203747","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2020.3036589","article-title":"SLIM: A lightweight block cipher for internet of health things","volume":"8","author":"Aboushosha","year":"2020","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Kumar, P., Kumar, R., Kumar, A., Franklin, A.A., and Jolfaei, A. (2022, January 16\u201320). Blockchain and Deep Learning Empowered Secure Data Sharing Framework for Softwarized UAVs. Proceedings of the 2022 IEEE International Conference on Communications Workshops (ICC Workshops), Seoul, Republic of Korea.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICCWorkshops53468.2022.9814485"},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Aljuhani, A., Kumar, P., Kumar, R., Jolfaei, A., and Islam, A.N. (2022). Fog intelligence for secure smart villages: Architecture, and future challenges. IEEE Consum. Electron. Mag., 1\u20139. Available online: https:\/\/ieeexplore.ieee.org\/document\/9837392."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"31","DOI":"10.1016\/j.biosystemseng.2017.09.007","article-title":"Internet of Things in agriculture, recent advances and future challenges","volume":"164","author":"Tzounis","year":"2017","journal-title":"Biosyst. Eng."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Prvulovi\u0107, P., Radosavljevi\u0107, N., and Babi\u0107, D. (2021, January 20\u201322). Analysis of Lightweight Cryptographic Protocols in Precision Agriculture-A Case Study. Proceedings of the 2021 15th International Conference on Advanced Technologies, Systems and Services in Telecommunications (TELSIKS), Nis, Serbia.","DOI":"10.1109\/TELSIKS52058.2021.9606294"},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"136023","DOI":"10.1109\/ACCESS.2019.2940330","article-title":"Loong: A family of involutional lightweight block cipher based on SPN structure","volume":"7","author":"Liu","year":"2019","journal-title":"IEEE Access"},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bhonge, H.N., Ambat, M.K., and Chandavarkar, B. (2020, January 1\u20133). An Experimental Evaluation of SHA-512 for Different Modes of Operation. Proceedings of the 2020 11th International Conference on Computing, Communication and Networking Technologies (ICCCNT), Kharagpur, India.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICCCNT49239.2020.9225559"},{"key":"ref_8","unstructured":"McGrew, D., and Viega, J. (2004). Arbitrary block length (ABL) mode: Security without data expansion. Submiss. IEEE SISWG, Available online: https:\/\/citeseerx.ist.psu.edu\/document?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=6ff1a8bfcd7a214e1cf2c9c501e724ef753937e1."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dutta, A., and Nandi, M. (2018). Tweakable HCTR: A BBB secure tweakable enciphering scheme. International Conference on Cryptology in India, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-05378-9_3"},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"McGrew, D.A., and Fluhrer, S.R. (2004). The extended codebook (XCB) mode of operation. Cryptol. Eprint Arch., Available online: http:\/\/eprint.iacr.org\/2004\/278."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Salman, R.S., Farhan, A.K., and Shakir, A. (2022, January 26\u201330). Lightweight Modifications in the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) for IoT Applications: A Comparative Survey. Proceedings of the 2022 International Conference on Computer Science and Software Engineering (CSASE), Hiroshima, Japan.","DOI":"10.1109\/CSASE51777.2022.9759828"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Shibutani, K., Isobe, T., Hiwatari, H., Mitsuda, A., Akishita, T., and Shirai, T. (2011). Piccolo: An ultra-lightweight blockcipher. International Workshop on Cryptographic Hardware and Embedded Systems, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-23951-9_23"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"13897","DOI":"10.1007\/s11227-021-03836-y","article-title":"Secure authenticated key exchange for WSNs in IoT applications","volume":"77","author":"Qi","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Supercomput."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Iqbal, U., and Shafi, S. (2019). A provable and secure key exchange protocol based on the elliptical curve diffe\u2013hellman for wsn. Advances in Big Data and Cloud Computing, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-981-13-1882-5_31"},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Saqib, N. (2016, January 24). Key exchange protocol for WSN resilient against man in the middle attack. Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE International Conference on Advances in Computer Applications (ICACA), Coimbatore, India.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICACA.2016.7887963"},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Kumar, M. (2018). Security of XCB and HCTR. [Ph.D. Thesis, Indian Statistical Institute]."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1683","DOI":"10.1109\/TIT.2008.917623","article-title":"HCH: A new tweakable enciphering scheme using the hash-counter-hash approach","volume":"54","author":"Chakraborty","year":"2008","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ashoka Raja, Y., Shah, P.K., and Darji, A.D. (2022). FPGA-Based Display Driver Design with Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) Support Using MODBUS. Recent Trends in Electronics and Communication, Springer.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-981-16-2761-3_45"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6524","DOI":"10.1109\/JSYST.2022.3150968","article-title":"Forecasting Aided Distribution Network State Estimation Using Mixed \u03bcPMU-RTU Measurements","volume":"16","author":"Li","year":"2022","journal-title":"IEEE Syst. J."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1867","DOI":"10.1007\/s42835-021-00731-7","article-title":"Adaptive distance protection scheme setting in presence of SVC using remote terminal unit","volume":"16","author":"Uma","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Electr. Eng. Technol."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Salahudin, F., and Setiyono, B. (2019, January 26\u201327). Design of Remote Terminal Unit (RTU) Panel Supply Monitoring Based on IOT Case Study at PLN. Proceedings of the 2019 sixth International Conference on Information Technology, Computer and Electrical Engineering (ICITACEE), Semarang, Indonesia.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICITACEE.2019.8904336"},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Appleby, A. (2023, January 04). Smhasher & Murmurhash (2012). Available online: http:\/\/code.google.com\/p\/smhasher."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Alvarez, R., Caballero-Gil, C., Santonja, J., and Zamora, A. (2017). Algorithms for lightweight key exchange. Sensors, 17.","DOI":"10.3390\/s17071517"}],"container-title":["Symmetry"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-8994\/15\/1\/177\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T18:02:33Z","timestamp":1760119353000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2073-8994\/15\/1\/177"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,7]]},"references-count":23,"journal-issue":{"issue":"1","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,1]]}},"alternative-id":["sym15010177"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/sym15010177","relation":{},"ISSN":["2073-8994"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"2073-8994"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,1,7]]}}}