Efficient and Anonymous Mutual Authentication Protocol in Multi‐Access Edge Computing (MEC) Environments

Abstract

Multi‐access edge computing (MEC) is an evolving paradigm of the Internet of things (IoT) applications. The MEC is a complement to traditional cloud computing where services are extended closer to the network and so to the end users. As mobile users can use MEC services in an inter‐domain, security is one of the challenging questions, how to protect IoT applications in MEC environments from abuses? In addition, considering real‐world MEC supported IoT applications (e.g. airport) where a user is always on the move from one network to another network. This scenario also poses many security challenges. To mitigate this, an authentication mechanism can play an important role to defend MEC from unauthorized access. Thus, an authentication mechanism is needed that can support mobility for MEC users. Moreover, establishing a session key is also highly desirable between the MEC users and foreign‐edge servers to enable secure communication in MEC environments. In addition, how to maintain users' anonymity is another important security requirement, as MEC users do not want to disclose their private information. To solve these issues, this chapter proposes a new efficient and anonymous mobility supported mutual authentication scheme in MEC environments. The scheme utilizes the password and smartcard as two‐factor authentications and facilitates many services to the users such as user anonymity, mutual authentication, and secure session key establishment in mobility supported environments. In addition, it allows users to choose/update their password regularly, whenever needed. Security and performance evaluation show the practicality of the proposed scheme.