Anonymous Authentication Research Articles

MA-TEECM: Mutual Anonymous Authentication-Based Credential Migration Technology for Mobile Trusted Execution Environments

ARM TrustZone is the most widely used mobile trusted execution environment (TEE) technology today. Its hardware-enabled isolated execution environment provides reliable assurance of secure storage of credentials in mobile devices. However, the research on managing credentials stored in the TEE throughout the lifecycle of mobile devices has received little attention in recent years, and the credentials in TEE generally face usability problems caused by the mobile device lifecycle events. Aiming at the risk of information disclosure caused by the third-party service providers in the traditional credential migration scheme, this paper presents a mutual anonymous authentication-based credential migration framework for mobile trusted execution environments. First, we propose a peer-to-peer credential migration model between mobile terminals based on TrustZone and SGX, which solves the single point of failure caused by attacks on trusted third parties that act as credential transfer stations and managers in traditional solutions; Second, we propose an identity authentication protocol between TEEs based on mutual anonymous authentication, and a detailed authentication process is designed based on the universal mobile TEE model; Third, we build a formal verification model using High-Level Protocol Specification Language (HLPSL). Finally, the formal and informal security analysis indicate that the improved scheme meets the expected security requirements and is secure against several known attacks.

Blockchain-Based Anonymous Authentication in Edge Computing Environment

Authentication is an important requirement for the security of edge computing applications. The existing authentication schemes either frequently rely on third-party trusted authorities, leading to the security risk of user information disclosure, or have high authentication overhead, causing certain pressure on the computation and communication of lightweight terminal equipment in the edge environment. In this paper, we proposed a blockchain-based anonymous authentication scheme for edge computing environments. We first designed a blockchain-based authentication architecture to store a small number of authentication elements in the blockchain network, and provide a decentralized and trusted authentication environment to ensure device anonymity and improve the security of authentication processes. Then, an elliptic cryptographic curve-based authentication scheme is proposed. It uses the chameleon hash function to dynamically generate the authentication data according to the elements stored in the blockchain and negotiate the session key, which effectively reduces the computational overhead in the authentication process. The experimental results show that the proposed scheme achieves a secure authentication process and effectively reduces the authentication overhead by up to 43.16% compared to three state-of-the-art schemes.

Identity-Based Edge Computing Anonymous Authentication Protocol

With the development of sensor technology and wireless communication technology, edge computing has a wider range of applications. The privacy protection of edge computing is of great significance. In the edge computing system, in order to ensure the credibility of the source of terminal data, mobile edge computing (MEC) needs to verify the signature of the terminal node on the data. During the signature process, the computing power of edge devices such as wireless terminals can easily become the bottleneck of system performance. Therefore, it is very necessary to improve efficiency through computational offloading. Therefore, this paper proposes an identity-based edge computing anonymous authentication protocol. The protocol realizes mutual authentication and obtains a shared key by encrypting the mutual information. The encryption algorithm is implemented through a thresholded identity-based proxy ring signature. When a large number of terminals offload computing, MEC can set the priority of offloading tasks according to the user’s identity and permissions, thereby improving offloading efficiency. Security analysis shows that the scheme can guarantee the anonymity and unforgeability of signatures. The probability of a malicious node forging a signature is equivalent to cracking the discrete logarithm puzzle. According to the efficiency analysis, in the case of MEC offloading, the computational complexity is significantly reduced, the computing power of edge devices is liberated, and the signature efficiency is improved.

Anonymous Authentication Protocol Based on Physical Unclonable Function and Elliptic Curve Cryptography for Smart Grid

Anonymous Authentication Protocol Based on Physical Unclonable Function and Elliptic Curve Cryptography for Smart Grid

AADEC: Anonymous and Auditable Distributed Access Control for Edge Computing Services

Edge computing is an emerging distributed computing concept that allows edge servers to provide authorized consumers with various on-demand services. Due to highly dynamic and untrustworthy network environments, various potential security concerns (e.g., unauthorized access, data manipulation, and privacy leakage) have been the critical factors restricting the development of edge computing. A recent heterogeneous framework proposed by Dougherty et al. (CCS’21), named APECS, deploys token-based authorization and multiple attribute-based encryption (MABE) to guarantee access control and data confidentiality. While APECS achieves a secure asynchronous access control without the “always-on” cloud, it suffers from privacy leakage (caused by the public identity information) and fake data spreading issues (due to the data confidentiality). In this paper, we propose an Anonymous and Auditable Distributed Access Control Framework for Edge Computing (AADEC) to relieve these issues. AADEC is based on two building blocks that we designed, namely a conditional anonymous authentication and an auditable MABE with optimized performance. We also define the formal security models and present security proofs for our proposal. The final qualitative comparison and performance benchmark demonstrate that AADEC can achieve a trade-off among anonymity, confidentiality, auditability and efficiency.

Retraction Note: A trust based security framework with anonymous authentication system using multiple attributes in decentralized cloud

Retraction Note: A trust based security framework with anonymous authentication system using multiple attributes in decentralized cloud

Toward Smart Home Authentication Using PUF and Edge-Computing Paradigm

The smart home is a crucial embodiment of the internet of things (IoT), which can facilitate users to access smart home services anytime and anywhere. Due to the limited resources of cloud computing, it cannot meet users' real-time needs. Therefore, edge computing emerges as the times require, providing users with better real-time access and storage. The application of edge computing in the smart home environment can enable users to enjoy smart home services. However, users and smart devices communicate through public channels, and malicious attackers may intercept information transmitted through public channels, resulting in user privacy disclosure. Therefore, it is a critical issue to protect the secure communication between users and smart devices in the smart home environment. Furthermore, authentication protocols in smart home environments also have some security challenges. In this paper, we propose an anonymous authentication protocol that applies edge computing to the smart home environment to protect communication security between entities. To protect the security of smart devices, we embed physical unclonable functions (PUF) into each smart device. Real-or-random model, informal security analysis, and ProVerif are adopted to verify the security of our protocol. Finally, we compare our protocol with existing protocols regarding security and performance. The comparison results demonstrate that our protocol has higher security and slightly better performance.

A secure elliptic curve based anonymous authentication and key establishment mechanism for IoT and cloud

A secure elliptic curve based anonymous authentication and key establishment mechanism for IoT and cloud

A Certificateless Anonymous Cross-Domain Authentication Scheme Assisted by Blockchain for Internet of Vehicles

With the development of the Internet of Things and the increase of intelligent vehicles, the Internet of Vehicles (IoVs) have been widely used in the information communication such as road and traffic conditions. However, heavy overhead of certificate management, high computing load of identity and message authentication, and the privacy disclosure of vehicle nodes have hindered the development of intelligent transportation. In this study, we propose a certificateless cross-domain anonymous authentication scheme based on blockchain for IoVs. Specifically, the vehicle identity information is authenticated by the first roadside unit (RSU), and transactions are recorded permanently and immutably in the blockchain to reduce the repeated authentication load of other RSUs. To achieve conditional privacy, the trusted authority (TA) generates pseudonyms for each registered user. The relation between the pseudonym and the real identity is kept confidential by the TA and only can only be revealed in case of disputes. Meanwhile, the private key of the vehicle is generated anonymously on the basis of certificateless technology and the pairing-free signature verification. Correctness and security proof demonstrate that our proposed scheme is provably secure and can withstand different types of attacks. A simulation environment has been built to test the packet loss rate and delay of messages in the network. Results show that the proposed scheme is more efficient than the related schemes.

ZAMA: A ZKP-Based Anonymous Mutual Authentication Scheme for the IoV

Internet of Vehicles (IoV) is a typical application of mobile Internet of Things (IoT), which aims to improve road conditions and enhance the driving experience. However, the issue of identity leakage has drawn a major privacy concern during the vehicle’s authentication. It is impractical to apply traditional anonymous authentication methods directly to the IoV system due to their complex computation. To enhance the user’s privacy and the service’s efficiency, we propose a novel efficient anonymous authentication approach for the IoV based on the zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) and elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). We achieve the user’s strong anonymity and authenticity based on the Fujisaki–Okamoto Commitment algorithm. In addition, the third trusted authority can effectively trace users by tracking users’ verification keys. It holds the user’s traceability when a violation occurs. Meanwhile, we design a fast reconnection procedure based on the security context from the last access, which can reduce the computation overhead effectively. Through the security analysis, it proves that our scheme provides the anonymity, mutual authenticity, unlinkability, traceability, forward security, and replay-attack resistance. The experimental results indicate that our scheme has a better performance compared with the classic protocols in the IoV.

DBKEM-AACS: a distributed key escrow model in blockchain with anonymous authentication and committee selection

DBKEM-AACS: a distributed key escrow model in blockchain with anonymous authentication and committee selection

A Robust and Anonymous Three-Factor Authentication Scheme Based ECC for Smart Home Environments

With the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) industry, the smart home is fully integrated with people’s shelter and transportation, which facilitates people’s daily life. A smart home without a security authentication mechanism will inevitably cause a series of security threats. This is essentially a problem of symmetry model worth solving. In fact, researchers have designed various authentication schemes to verify the identity of users and to ensure smart devices can be legally accessed through authorization in the smart home. In 2021, Yu proposed a three-factor anonymous authentication scheme for smart homes using lightweight symmetric encryption primitives and stated that their scheme is resistant to various known security attacks. However, after careful analysis, we found that Yu’s scheme needs further improvement in node capture attack and offline password guessing attack and that forward security cannot be guaranteed. Therefore, we first design a robust three-factor anonymous authentication scheme for smart homes based on asymmetric encryption Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC). Then, we perform formal and informal security analysis in which the formal analysis tools include Burrows-Abadi-Needham (BAN) logic and Scyther simulation tool to prove that the proposed scheme can achieve user anonymity, untraceability, and session key forward security. Meanwhile, mutual authentication is performed, and the scheme is resistant to all known attacks described in this article. Finally, a performance comparison is made in terms of efficiency, which shows that our scheme can have certain advantages with those newly designed schemes, achieve a delicate balance in performance and safety, and is more practical for the real smart home environment.

A Lightweight and Anonymous Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for Wireless Body Area Networks

As a major building block of Healthcare 4.0, wireless body area networks (WBANs) play an important role in collecting patient’s real-time physical phenomena through small wearable or implantable intelligent medical devices and communicating with remote medical experts using short-range wireless communication techniques. However, the challenges of securing information access are partly evidenced by the difficulty in designing secure and efficient security protocols. For example, existing authentication and key agreement schemes have either potential security vulnerabilities or high communication and computation overhead. In this article, we propose a lightweight and anonymous authentication and key agreement protocol, also called liteAuth, for WBANs. In our approach, mutual authentication and session key agreement are achieved using the Tinkerbell map-based random shuffling, physical unclonable function, one-way hash function, and bitwise exclusive OR operation. The security of liteAuth is first verified using the AVISPA tool, and then its cyber resilience is analyzed. In addition, we develop a real-world testbed, implement liteAuth and two existing schemes (i.e., PSLAP and HARCI), and conduct experiments for performance evaluation and analysis. Experimental results indicate that liteAuth can improve the performance of communication overhead and computation time as well as reduce energy consumption, while meeting all security requirements.

ISC-CPPA:Improverd-Security Certificateless Conditional Privacy-Preserving Authentication Scheme With Revocation

With the development of Internet of Things, communication and computer technology, the significance of realizing vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) become more important. Due to wireless communication, VANETs suffer cyber attacks in practice. Many anonymous authentication schemes have been proposed in the literature. Li et al. proposed an efficient authentication scheme called CL-CPPA. However, the proposed scheme failed to realize the claimed un-linkability and anonymity. In this work, we proposed a new certificateless conditional privacy-preserving authentication scheme with an enhanced security guarantee. Specifically, a random number is selected to encrypt the unique tag to ensure anonymity. And our proposed scheme also realizes un-linkability, ensuring that attackers cannot determine whether different messages are sent by the same vehicle. Besides, we present a detailed and efficient revocation mechanism in the proposed scheme. Each RSU has its own private key, when there is a malicious vehicle, RSU will immediately update the private key of current area. Only legitimate vehicles can get the new private key, and malicious vehicle is efficiently revoked from the network. The experiment results show that the proposed scheme solves the above problems with little additional extra calculations.

An attack Resistant Privacy-Preserving Access Control Scheme for Outsourced E-pharma Data in Cloud

Key Aggregate Cryptosystem was used to construct a safe and scalable healthcare data exchange system in the cloud (KAC). KAC offered single-key encryption and decryption rights delegation for any group of ciphertexts utilizing an aggregated secret key. However, leakage of delegation keys and a specified bound on number of maximal ciphertext classes were major issues with KAC.The Scalable and Strengthened -KAC (SSKAC) approach was created to decide the number of ciphertext classes using an elliptic curve dynamically while simultaneously boosting the security level of KAC by utilising double encryption. Access control is crucial because the majority of healthcare data is extremely sensitive and should only be accessed by those who are permitted. As a result, SSKAC includes attribute-based access control with anonymous authentication to give access control on health data with anonymous authentication. However, the access policy may expose end-user privacy to an attacker. To tackle this problem,we used the cuckoo filter to disguise the right of entry policy tosafeguard the privacy information of the owner. The inference assault affects medical records. One of the strategies for ensuring data confidentiality from unforeseen data access is inference control. The Individual data privacy is secured through the use of two inference control methods; The Query Set Size Prevention and K-Anonymity.

A node trust factor linked privacy preservation model in 5G networks with a multi-stage authentication model

There has been a dramatic expansion in the number and frequency of relationships between entities in mobile telecommunications networks over the last several years. For theseinteractions to be profitable, the parties involved must be able to count on one another. Since mobile networks require trust and reputation models to create feasible communications in 5 G and beyond networks, a collection of entities can create chains of operations between cross-operators with privacy and trustworthiness through mobile telecommunication network models. A major impediment to widespread communication beyond 5 G networks is the absence of automated, efficient, and scalable models for creating security and trust. Multitenancy and active infrastructure sharing will be major facilitators of new business models as 5 G networks expand. New security concerns are emerging due to these new opportunities, which is one of the primary obstacles for the mass implementation of 5 G networks. There are several ways in which attackers might use 5G-enabled situations to undertake lateral moves and disrupt 5 G services and infrastructure resources. Existing trust and security models cannot deal with the dynamic nature of the 5 G infrastructural threats or the multi-tenant security issues. Hence, we propose a Mobile Node Trust Factor Linked Privacy Preservation model for 5 G multi-stage authentication models in this work. A threat model for multi-stage authentication scenarios in an underlying 5 G network infrastructure is used to demonstrate how this model can be used. For secure end-to-end communication, authorization and strong authentication are necessary. A combination of anonymous authentication and authorization is needed to preserve the privacy of mobile devices which share personal information. The proposed model is compared with the traditional models and the proposed model results exhibit better performance.

Security vulnerability analysis for an improved anonymous authentication protocol for wearable health monitoring system in an aging society

Security vulnerability analysis for an improved anonymous authentication protocol for wearable health monitoring system in an aging society

A new anonymous authentication framework for secure smart grids applications

This paper proffers a secure and anonymous authenticated key exchange (AKE) scheme for SGs, called SAAS-SG, for establishing a secure communication channel between smart meter (SM) and service provider (SPR). SAAS-SG utilizes the hash algorithm, Esch256, and authenticated encryption algorithm AEGIS, to perform the AKE process. Besides, SAAS-SG ensures the integrity and confidentiality of AKE messages while preserving the anonymity of SMs and SPR. Besides, for encrypted transmission in the future, SAAS-SG empowers SMs and SPR to set up an analogous secret session key (SK) after performing the mutual authentication. SK encrypts the sensitive information exchanged between SMs and service providers (SPR) over the public Internet. Moreover, we illustrate that SAAS-SG is capable of resisting different security vulnerabilities by conducting informal and Scyther-based security analyses. In addition, the random oracle model is operated to validate the security of the established secret SK. Furthermore, comparing SAAS-SG with other related AKE schemes explicates that SAAS-SG requires low communication, storage, and computational overheads, respectively, while accomplishing the AKE phase and renders enhanced security features.

A Noval and Efficient ECC-Based Authenticated Key Agreement Scheme for Smart Metering in the Smart Grid

With the gradual maturity of the smart grid (SG), security challenges have become one of the important issues that needs to be addressed urgently. In SG, the identity authentication and key agreement protocol between a smart meter (SMSM) and an aggregator (AGAG) is a prerequisite for both parties to establish a secure communication. Some of the existing solutions require high communication cost, some have key escrow problems and security defects. Elliptic curve cryptosystem (ECC) holds the feature of low-key requirement and high security to make it more suitable for the security solutions to the communications in SG. In this paper, we propose a mutual anonymous authentication with an ECC-based key agreement scheme to secure the communications in SG. In addition, we compare our scheme with other existing schemes by the number of encryption operations, the computation delay, and the communication cost. The results indicate that our scheme is more efficient without the loss of safety properties.

Lightweight anonymous authentication protocol for resource-constrained smart home devices based on elliptic curve cryptography

The communication channel between the smart home devices and the remote users is susceptible to numerous privacy and security compromise attacks. To address these issues, many authentication protocols have been developed. However, majority of these security schemes have vulnerabilities that may still be exploited to wreck havoc in smart homes. For instance, protocols based on low entropy passwords can be broken by polynomial time adversaries. Apart from security and privacy challenges, efficiency of the entire authentication process is another challenge that needs to be solved. To this end, most of the conventional smart home authentication protocols incur extensive storage, computation as well as communication overheads which are unsuitable for resource limited smart home devices. In this paper, an anonymous lightweight protocol is developed, based on one-way hashing and elliptic curve point multiplication operations. Formal verification of this protocol is executed using ProVerif while its informal security analysis demonstrates its robustness against majority of the smart home privacy and security attacks. In terms of operational efficiency, comparative analysis is carried out which shows that it incurs relatively low computation, storage and communication overheads.