Performance Comparison of AES, Grain V1, and RC4 Algorithms on the MQTT Protocol

MQTT is a communication protocol used by IoT devices. In its default configuration, it has no security layer, making it vulnerable to data theft or tapping attacks. Therefore, efforts must be made to maintain data security, which is achieved through cryptography. In this study, AES, Grain V1, and RC4 algorithms were tested for passive sniffing attacks and data processing time performance. Based on the experiment results, it can be concluded that three algorithms can overcome passive sniffing attacks. In addition to testing its resistance to the cryptanalysis attack, the security of the algorithm can be tested by comparing the time needed to break its key. Based on the experiment results, it was discovered that it took the longest time to break the AES algorithm, so it is safer than Grain V1 and RC4 algorithms. Furthermore, testing was carried out to test the performance of the encryption and decryption processing times for each algorithm, and it was found that the RC4 algorithm was faster than the AES and Grain V1 algorithms. The average encryption time performance of the RC4 algorithm is 20.4 microseconds, the Grain V1 algorithm is 763.4 microseconds, and the AES algorithm is 796.84 microseconds. Meanwhile, the average decryption performance for the RC4 algorithm is 0.13 microseconds, the Grain V1 algorithm is 0.18 microseconds, and the AES algorithm is 1.16 microseconds.