Application of Amicable Numbers in Cryptographic Data Protection Methods

Cryptographic data protection algorithms require specific resources for proper implementation and security. Certain environments, particularly those involving Internet of Things devices, cannot provide the necessary set of measures, including processor speed, memory size, and communication bandwidth, with an acceptable response time and a limitation on battery power consumption. Unfortunately, effective and known data protection mechanisms, such as public key infrastructure, have no potential application in this case. An alternative is to develop other solutions that will ensure an appropriate level of security and will be dedicated to devices with minimal computing and communication resources. This paper proposes a new method to access the resources or to verify access rights using so-called amicable numbers as a base for the authentication mechanism. The mathematical properties of amicable numbers can form the basis for developing new algorithms that are highly needed in the IoT world and relate to fundamental data security and privacy protection issues.