diff --git a/device/noise-protocol.go b/device/noise-protocol.go
index b72acf85d..12368ec62 100644
--- a/device/noise-protocol.go
+++ b/device/noise-protocol.go
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@
 package device
 
 import (
+	"encoding/binary"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"sync"
@@ -115,6 +116,53 @@ type MessageCookieReply struct {
 	Cookie   [blake2s.Size128 + poly1305.TagSize]byte
 }
 
+var errMessageTooShort = errors.New("message too short")
+
+func (msg *MessageInitiation) unmarshal(b []byte) error {
+	if len(b) < MessageInitiationSize {
+		return errMessageTooShort
+	}
+
+	msg.Type = binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(b)
+	msg.Sender = binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(b[4:])
+	copy(msg.Ephemeral[:], b[8:])
+	copy(msg.Static[:], b[8+len(msg.Ephemeral):])
+	copy(msg.Timestamp[:], b[8+len(msg.Ephemeral)+len(msg.Static):])
+	copy(msg.MAC1[:], b[8+len(msg.Ephemeral)+len(msg.Static)+len(msg.Timestamp):])
+	copy(msg.MAC2[:], b[8+len(msg.Ephemeral)+len(msg.Static)+len(msg.Timestamp)+len(msg.MAC1):])
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (msg *MessageResponse) unmarshal(b []byte) error {
+	if len(b) < MessageResponseSize {
+		return errMessageTooShort
+	}
+
+	msg.Type = binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(b)
+	msg.Sender = binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(b[4:])
+	msg.Receiver = binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(b[8:])
+	copy(msg.Ephemeral[:], b[12:])
+	copy(msg.Empty[:], b[12+len(msg.Ephemeral):])
+	copy(msg.MAC1[:], b[12+len(msg.Ephemeral)+len(msg.Empty):])
+	copy(msg.MAC2[:], b[12+len(msg.Ephemeral)+len(msg.Empty)+len(msg.MAC1):])
+
+	return nil
+}
+
+func (msg *MessageCookieReply) unmarshal(b []byte) error {
+	if len(b) < MessageCookieReplySize {
+		return errMessageTooShort
+	}
+
+	msg.Type = binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(b)
+	msg.Receiver = binary.LittleEndian.Uint32(b[4:])
+	copy(msg.Nonce[:], b[8:])
+	copy(msg.Cookie[:], b[8+len(msg.Nonce):])
+
+	return nil
+}
+
 type Handshake struct {
 	state                     handshakeState
 	mutex                     sync.RWMutex
diff --git a/device/noise-protocol_test.go b/device/noise-protocol_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7812e325d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/device/noise-protocol_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+package device
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"encoding/binary"
+	"testing"
+)
+
+var msgSink MessageInitiation
+
+func BenchmarkMessageInitiationUnmarshal(b *testing.B) {
+	packet := make([]byte, MessageInitiationSize)
+	reader := bytes.NewReader(packet)
+	err := binary.Read(reader, binary.LittleEndian, &msgSink)
+	if err != nil {
+		b.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	b.Run("binary.Read", func(b *testing.B) {
+		b.ReportAllocs()
+		for range b.N {
+			reader := bytes.NewReader(packet)
+			_ = binary.Read(reader, binary.LittleEndian, &msgSink)
+		}
+	})
+
+	b.Run("unmarshal", func(b *testing.B) {
+		b.ReportAllocs()
+		for range b.N {
+			_ = msgSink.unmarshal(packet)
+		}
+	})
+}
diff --git a/device/receive.go b/device/receive.go
index c7b6c87fc..13929577e 100644
--- a/device/receive.go
+++ b/device/receive.go
@@ -6,7 +6,6 @@
 package device
 
 import (
-	"bytes"
 	"encoding/binary"
 	"errors"
 	"net"
@@ -287,8 +286,7 @@ func (device *Device) RoutineHandshake(id int) {
 			// unmarshal packet
 
 			var reply MessageCookieReply
-			reader := bytes.NewReader(elem.packet)
-			err := binary.Read(reader, binary.LittleEndian, &reply)
+			err := reply.unmarshal(elem.packet)
 			if err != nil {
 				device.log.Verbosef("Failed to decode cookie reply")
 				goto skip
@@ -353,8 +351,7 @@ func (device *Device) RoutineHandshake(id int) {
 			// unmarshal
 
 			var msg MessageInitiation
-			reader := bytes.NewReader(elem.packet)
-			err := binary.Read(reader, binary.LittleEndian, &msg)
+			err := msg.unmarshal(elem.packet)
 			if err != nil {
 				device.log.Errorf("Failed to decode initiation message")
 				goto skip
@@ -386,8 +383,7 @@ func (device *Device) RoutineHandshake(id int) {
 			// unmarshal
 
 			var msg MessageResponse
-			reader := bytes.NewReader(elem.packet)
-			err := binary.Read(reader, binary.LittleEndian, &msg)
+			err := msg.unmarshal(elem.packet)
 			if err != nil {
 				device.log.Errorf("Failed to decode response message")
 				goto skip