Recently, lightweight cipher has become a hot topic, which is a key technology to ensure the security of communications among constrained devices such as WSNs (Wireless sensor Network), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), and IoT (Internet Of Things). Lightweight cryptography is a class in cryptography that is employed in resource constrained devices like embedded systems to provide security. A novel S-BOX (Substitution–Box) encryption using Adaptive Composite Field Architecture (ACFA) for 5G communication is proposed in this research. This ACFA based S-Box encryption is one of the light weight cryptography algorithms which suits the resource constrained environments in providing security in 5G communication thus enhancing the privacy. This encryption approach employs a novel ACFA architecture with 4-stage pipelining for two S-boxes employment in the first stage of creating the confusions with Algebraic Normal Form (ANF) then key generating stage is used as another step in the encryption algorithm. The generated key can be combined with plain texts and the total process can be performed for a specific number of rounds according to the number of bits in the plain texts and the algorithm defined. The proposed S-box architectures can achieve low area than conventional approach.
