A Comparison Between Implementations of Cryptographic Algorithms and Their Efficiency in Smartphone Computing Environments : Exploring the Performance Trade-offs of Performing Cryptographic Work in Different Smartphone Development Frameworks

Sammanfattning: In the recent decade concern for privacy has massively increased in the public consciousness. As a result of this development, demand for end-to-end secure communications in all manner of applications has also seen a rapid increase. This development can however often be at odds with other consumer demands. Convenience and ease of access are highly valued attributes in many consumer markets and the pursuit of providing adequate privacy and security standards can often impart an impediment on these sought after attributes. This impediment being a result of the increased resource usage and more stringent requirements that facilitating adequate security often brings with it and as such is of special concern when operating within smartphone computing environments, in which resources can be comparatively sparse. In the effort of exploring how to provide security and privacy within the framework of these aforementioned consumer markets, this thesis compares the performance of implementations of cryptographic algorithms in three different development frameworks on Android smartphone devices. The study composing the thesis analyzes the efficiency of performing the cryptographic work necessary to facilitate secure communications with a few select configurations of cryptographic algorithms, including Advanced Encryption Standard (AES), Rivest–Shamir–Adleman (RSA), Blowfish (BF) and Elliptic-Curve Cryptography (ECC), using the following development frameworks: Web (React), hybrid (React Native) and native (Android). The purpose of this thesis is to examine the impact of different programming languages, libraries, and hardware on the performance of these algorithms. The results of the study can provide valuable insight into the selection of cryptographic algorithms and development frameworks when seeking to provide secure communication and data protection on smartphone devices. The findings may be useful for developers, security professionals, and researchers who are interested in providing efficient security on such devices.