Robust Anonymous Mutual Authentication Scheme for <italic>n</italic>-Times Ubiquitous Mobile Cloud Computing Services

Abstract

In recent years, mobile computing has gained a huge popularity among mobile users (MUs). It basically combines the mobile devices with the cloud computing. By the means of on-demand self-service and extendibility, it can offer the infrastructures, platform, entertainments, and software services in a cloud to MUs through the mobile network. However, offering secure access to these services by preserving the privacy of the MU is indeed a challenge for any mobile cloud service provider. In this paper, we aim to propose a new robust anonymous mutual authentication scheme for mobile cloud environment. Through this scheme, both the MU and the service cloud need to prove their legitimacy, and it eventually helps the legitimate mobile cloud user to enjoy n times all the ubiquitous services in a secure and efficient way, where the value of n may differ based on the principal he/she has paid for. The security of the proposed scheme is thoroughly analyzed using both formal as well as informal security analysis. Furthermore, functionality and performance comparisons using the testbed simulation among the proposed scheme and other existing relevant schemes reveal that the proposed scheme outperforms other existing schemes.