Work

Privacy-Preserving ECC-Based AKA for Resource-Constrained IoT Sensor Networks with Forgotten Password Reset

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are extensively used in IoT applications. Secure access control and data protection are essential. Nonetheless, the wireless environment has an open nature. The limited resources of sensor devices render WSNs susceptible to a variety of security attacks, causing significant difficulties in the design phase of efficient authentication and key agreement (AKA) protocols. This study proposes a physically unclonable function (PUF)-based lightweight and secure AKA protocol for WSNs based on elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). A secure password update scheme is offered, which would allow legitimate users to reset forgotten passwords without re-registration. According to formal security analysis using BAN logic and ProVerif, the proposed protocol is secure against common attacks. Moreover, from an entropy perspective, the use of dynamic pseudonyms and fresh session randomness increase an adversary's uncertainty about user identities, thereby limiting identity-related information leakage. Performance evaluation shows that the proposed protocol achieves lower computational and communication overhead than the existing ones, making it suitable for WSNs with resource constraints.

Source: Entropy

DOI: 10.3390/e28020185

Authors: Yicheng Yu, Kai Wei, Kun Qi, Wangyu Wu

Institutions: Shenzhen Polytechnic University, University of Liverpool

Language: English

Topic: Advanced Authentication Protocols Security

Subfield: Computer Networks and Communications

Field: Computer Science

Domain: Physical Sciences

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $3,137

Funder: Shenzhen Polytechnic