Factors Affecting the Use of Encryption

In a C0PE (Consistent Zero-administration Personal Environment) -like environment, the participant devices are expected to have varying capabilities with respect to processing speed, battery power available etc. Hence there are various factors that potentially affect the use of encryption. These include,

• CPU processing capability
• Network bandwidth
• Battery power available
• Hardware support for encryption (eg, a co-processor)
• Memory available

Small portable devices are constrained with respect to processing capability, available battery power and may accommodate only small network interfaces. Hardware support could speed up encryption process but introduce other costs like chip area and additional power requirements. Smartcards are constrained with respect to available memory. Hence, for any kind of performance analysis of encryption in a personal environment, the factors mentioned above should necessarily be considered. ¹