Privacy-Preserving Authentication Scheme for Wireless Networks

Abstract

Roaming service in wireless networks is highly desirable to mobile users. In this service, security and privacy are among the main factors. Moreover, allowing access to only authenticated legal users is one of the main factors for network service providers. This work proposes a privacy-preserving authentication scheme (PPAS) for roaming in a wireless network. The PPAS provides strong user anonymity, user unlinkability, and an efficient approach for network service providers to allow access to only authenticated legal users. The strong user anonymity and user unlinkability are based on the group signature and authentication list. The authentication list contains tokens for only legal users while preserving their privacy. A session key agreement is employed in the scheme for integrity and confidentiality. The proposed PPAS effectively mitigates some of the existing limitations.