A Secure User Authentication Scheme against Smart-Card Loss Attack for Wireless Sensor Networks Using Symmetric Key Techniques

Abstract

User authentication in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) is a critical security issue due to their unattended and hostile deployment in the field. In order to protect the security of real-time data query from an external user, many two-factor (password and smartcard) user authentication schemes are proposed. However, most of them are insecure against various attacks. This paper summarizes attacks and security requirements for two-factor user authentication in WSNs. Based on security requirements, a user authentication and session key establishment scheme is also proposed, and this scheme can resist smart-card loss attack merely by using symmetric key techniques. Security and performance analysis demonstrate that, compared to the existing schemes, the proposed approach is more secure and highly efficient.

Codeword Authenticated Key Exchange (CAKE) light weight secure routing protocol for WSN

“…In 2015, Chen et al propound a highly efficient and secure algorithm which can counter SSCA. It is a two‐factor UA scheme with session key establishment suitable for WSN.…”

An Anonymous User Authentication and Key Agreement Scheme Based on a Symmetric Cryptosystem in Wireless Sensor Networks

“…Chen et al [ 28 ] recently suggested a secure user authentication scheme for wireless sensor networks. They claimed that their scheme could withstand different types of attacks, such as smart card loss attacks [ 29 ], replay attacks [ 30 ], stolen verifier attacks [ 31 ], privileged-insider attacks [ 32 ], user impersonation attacks [ 33 ], password guessing attacks [ 34 ], etc.…”

“…After performing a security analysis of Chen et al’s scheme [ 28 ], however, we find that their scheme is still vulnerable to smart card loss attack, and is susceptible to denial of service attack, because it uses the incorrect verification method. In addition, we observe that their scheme cannot preserve user anonymity because user’s identity is in plaintext form in login request message.…”

“…In this paper, we describe how these attacks work, and propose an anonymous two-factor user authentication and key agreement scheme based on a symmetric cryptosystem in WSNs to address all of the previously mentioned problems regarding Chen et al’s scheme [ 28 ].…”

“…A secure and efficient password-based user authentication scheme should fulfill some security requirements and defend some different types of attacks. In this subsection, we will examine the essential requirements of authentication scheme based on previous researches [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 28 ]. These requirements will be used to analyze the security of our proposed scheme in Section 5 .…”