TTEA: Designing a Quantum-Ready and Energy-Conscious Encryption Model for Secure IoT Environments

TTEA: Designing a Quantum-Ready and Energy-Conscious Encryption Model for Secure IoT Environments | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article TTEA: Designing a Quantum-Ready and Energy-Conscious Encryption Model for Secure IoT Environments Mahmoud A. Abdelaal, Abdellatif I. Moustafa, H. Saleh, Mohamed Yassin I.Afifi This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6641645/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 25 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 15 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) represents important security challenges, especially for resources limited. Conventional light encryption methods such as a small encryption algorithm (TEA) often suffer from vulnerability to key and differential attacks and at the same time store high computing and energy costs. This paper represents a two-stage encryption approach (TTEA), a new cryptographic framework designed to increase both safety and efficiency in IoT communication. TTEA employs S-Boxs of 20 × 20 non-linear bits to achieve high non-linearity and low differential uniformity, along with an adaptive programming mechanism of keys, which dynamically modifies encryption complexity based on the availability of device-what is ideal for IoT-controlled battery systems. The platform rating, such as Arduino R3, ESP32 and Raspberry Pi, shows that TTEA overcomes existing methods, offers 15-20% faster encryption speed, 40% lower memory and reduced energy consumption compared to tea and other algorithms. Safety analyzes confirm the robustness of TTEA, reach an avalanche effect of 48.5% and higher entropy than traditional approaches. In addition, TTEA is effectively modified in large IoT networks, reducing the latency of multi-hop by 40%. The real world deployment in intelligent houses, industrial Internet, and healthcare shows that TTEA maintains high performance in networks with more than 200 devices and provides rapid encryption with minimal direction. Future works will explore the integration of advanced cryptographic techniques that will face emerging threats. TTEA appears as a safe, energy-efficient solution for protecting IoT applications in a dynamic environment. Physical sciences/Energy science and technology Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing Physical sciences/Nanoscience and technology IoT security lightweight cryptography adaptive key scheduling S-box energy efficiency avalanche effect Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 25 Mar, 2026 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 07 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 07 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 04 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 04 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 03 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 02 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Jul, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 01 Jul, 2025 Reviews received at journal 23 Jun, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Jun, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 02 Jun, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 28 May, 2025 Editor invited by journal 28 May, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 27 May, 2025 First submitted to journal 27 May, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6641645","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":465662080,"identity":"f78927fc-2b3b-4938-a833-d6225f972110","order_by":0,"name":"Mahmoud A. 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Conventional light encryption methods such as a small encryption algorithm (TEA) often suffer from vulnerability to key and differential attacks and at the same time store high computing and energy costs.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis paper represents a two-stage encryption approach (TTEA), a new cryptographic framework designed to increase both safety and efficiency in IoT communication. TTEA employs S-Boxs of 20 × 20 non-linear bits to achieve high non-linearity and low differential uniformity, along with an adaptive programming mechanism of keys, which dynamically modifies encryption complexity based on the availability of device-what is ideal for IoT-controlled battery systems.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe platform rating, such as Arduino R3, ESP32 and Raspberry Pi, shows that TTEA overcomes existing methods, offers 15-20% faster encryption speed, 40% lower memory and reduced energy consumption compared to tea and other algorithms. Safety analyzes confirm the robustness of TTEA, reach an avalanche effect of 48.5% and higher entropy than traditional approaches. In addition, TTEA is effectively modified in large IoT networks, reducing the latency of multi-hop by 40%.\u0026nbsp;\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe real world deployment in intelligent houses, industrial Internet, and healthcare shows that TTEA maintains high performance in networks with more than 200 devices and provides rapid encryption with minimal direction. Future works will explore the integration of advanced cryptographic techniques that will face emerging threats. TTEA appears as a safe, energy-efficient solution for protecting IoT applications in a dynamic environment.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"TTEA: Designing a Quantum-Ready and Energy-Conscious Encryption Model for Secure IoT Environments","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-06-04 03:39:11","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6641645/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2025-07-07T10:03:17+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-07-07T08:52:15+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-07-04T15:18:28+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"140874574187628041730806525982162696104","date":"2025-07-04T15:06:11+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"176042575207679665789522756086499335000","date":"2025-07-03T07:32:25+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-07-02T05:43:47+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"22878276520768435213637718832266561306","date":"2025-07-01T13:30:55+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"133156555607779620333038809216972207846","date":"2025-07-01T10:20:38+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-06-23T09:12:05+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"250518861731192514019779191761467564532","date":"2025-06-02T16:06:09+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-06-02T14:55:56+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-05-28T13:23:11+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-05-28T12:43:03+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-05-27T16:51:48+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2025-05-27T16:50:42+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"bf96f8ee-0c74-40f3-9a6b-387cd6767edc","owner":[],"postedDate":"June 4th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"published-in-journal","subjectAreas":[{"id":49433438,"name":"Physical sciences/Energy science and technology"},{"id":49433439,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering"},{"id":49433440,"name":"Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing"},{"id":49433441,"name":"Physical sciences/Nanoscience and technology"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-03-30T16:16:53+00:00","versionOfRecord":{"articleIdentity":"rs-6641645","link":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36998-x","journal":{"identity":"scientific-reports","isVorOnly":false,"title":"Scientific Reports"},"publishedOn":"2026-03-25 16:09:51","publishedOnDateReadable":"March 25th, 2026"},"versionCreatedAt":"2025-06-04 03:39:11","video":"","vorDoi":"10.1038/s41598-026-36998-x","vorDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-36998-x","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-6641645","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-6641645","identity":"rs-6641645","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}