A survey of lightweight stream ciphers for embedded systems

Pervasive computing constitutes a growing trend, aiming to embed smart devices into everyday objects. The limited resources of these devices and the ever-present need for lower production costs, lead to the research and development of lightweight cryptographic mechanisms. Block ciphers, the main symmetric key cryptosystems, perform well in this field. Nevertheless, stream ciphers are also relevant in ubiquitous computing applications, as they...