TLS-ECDHE-PSK-WITH-AES-128-CCM-8-SHA256 Cipher Suite

Key Exchange Mechanism

Elliptic Curve Diffie Hellman Ephemeral - ECDHE

Grade - A

ECDHE (Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral) is used because it enhances security through the use of ephemeral keys, which are temporary and unique for each session. This ensures that even if one session’s key is compromised, past and future sessions remain secure. ECDHE provides perfect forward secrecy, meaning that the compromise of long-term keys does not affect the confidentiality of past communications. The ephemeral nature of the keys significantly reduces the risk of long-term data breaches and enhances the overall robustness of the cryptographic protocol.

Authentication

Pre-Shared Key - PSK

Grade - A

PSK (Pre-Shared Key) cipher suites are used for authentication in secure communication protocols like TLS. They allow parties to establish a shared secret beforehand, ensuring confidentiality and integrity of data exchanges without the overhead of public key infrastructure (PKI), suitable for constrained environments or specific security requirements.

Cipher

Advanced Encryption Standard - AES

Grade - A

AES should be used in cipher suites because it offers strong security with efficient performance, large block size (128 bits), and resistance to known attacks. Its widespread adoption and thorough analysis by the cryptographic community ensure reliability and robustness for encrypting sensitive data.

Hash

Secure Hash Algorithm 256 Bit - SHA256

Grade - A

Improving greatly from SHA1, SHA-256 and above create secure hashes through robust cryptographic algorithms that ensure collision resistance and preimage resistance. They process input data in fixed-size blocks, applying complex mathematical transformations that make it computationally impractical to reverse-engineer the original data from its hash.

Key Size

128 Bit - 128

Grade - A

128-bit symmetric encryption keys are considered secure because they provide an astronomically large number of possible combinations (2^128), making brute-force attacks computationally infeasible with current technology. This level of security is sufficient for most practical purposes and is widely adopted in various encryption protocols.

Cipher Mode

Counter with Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code - CCM

Grade - A

CCM (Counter with CBC-MAC) is a mode of operation for cryptographic block ciphers, providing both encryption and authentication. Used in cipher suites, CCM ensures data confidentiality and integrity by combining the Counter (CTR) mode for encryption with the Cipher Block Chaining Message Authentication Code (CBC-MAC) for authentication. This dual functionality makes CCM highly efficient and secure, suitable for resource-constrained environments like IoT and wireless networks. By integrating CCM, cipher suites offer robust protection against unauthorized access and tampering, enhancing overall security in secure communications.