SED-SGC: A scalable, efficient, and distributed secure group communication scheme based on superlattice PUF

Abstract

A critical challenge in group communication is to guarantee the authenticity, integrity, and confidentiality of sensitive data, especially in scenarios with potential and prospective massive device access, such as the Internet of Everything (IoE). This paper explores a scalable, efficient, distributed secure group communication (SED-SGC) scheme that employs superlattice Physical Unclonable Function (PUF), tree structure, and the Decision Diffie–Hellman Problem. In SED-SGC, superlattice PUF facilitates lightweight, high-security mutual authentication and key generation. The Decision Diffie–Hellman Problem and tree structure construct group key agreement and dynamic member management protocol with logarithmic complexity, achieving forward and backward secrecy. Also, we demonstrate that SED-SGC can effectively guarantee security against multiple attack methods such as collusion attacks, man-in-the-middle attacks (MITM), and impersonation attacks.