Work

A gateway-optimized certificateless authentication scheme with dynamic anonymity for resource-asymmetric smart environments

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The rapid evolution of Internet of Things (IoT) demands secure and lightweight authentication schemes for resource-asymmetric environments, where gateways are powerful but user and device sides are constrained. Existing authentication and key agreement (AKA) protocols often fail to provide dynamic anonymity, resist malicious gateways, and support low-entropy passwords. To address these limitations, we propose a certificateless AKA scheme that combines a one-time password algorithm based on hash chains (HOTP) with fuzzy extractors for multi-factor authentication. The scheme ensures full dynamic anonymity, resists replay and impersonation attacks, and eliminates reliance on time synchronization. We formally verify its security using ProVerif and provide informal analysis. Performance comparisons demonstrate that the proposed scheme significantly reduces computational overhead while enhancing security, outperforming existing methods. These results confirm its suitability for secure, scalable IoT applications.

Source: Computer Networks

DOI: 10.1016/j.comnet.2025.111953

Authors: Junfeng Tian, Jian Geng, Siyi Zhang

Institution: Hebei University

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Authentication Protocols Security

Subfield: Computer Networks and Communications

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,460

Funder: Natural Science Foundation of Hebei Province