Security Analysis of Social Networking Based Authentication in Infrastructureless PAC Networks

Abstract

IEEE 802.15.8 standard defines specifications and characteristics of infrastructureless peer-aware communications (PACs) with fully coordination in an ad hoc environment. The PAC aims at supporting social connectivity for broad types of PAC devices, especially lightweight Internet of things. Since no coordinator exists in the PAC, security is considered as one of the main challenges for a successful communication between PAC devices. In this status quo, social networking based authentication (SNAuth) protocol proved its advances by supporting multi-security levels for diverse PAC devices. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive security analysis of SNAuth protocol in order to provide a convenient reference for PAC users to select appropriate SNAuth configuration based on their demands.