An Efficient, Robust, and Lightweight Subtree-Based Three-Factor Authentication Procedure for Large-Scale DWSN in Random Oracle

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are the backbones of numerous real-time monitoring systems that are applied to serve many different parts of our everyday lives including traffic management, telecare, pollution control, military application, among others. In most cases, WSN systems involve exchanges of sensitive/private data between the sensor nodes and the outside world. In order to preserve data privacy, illegal data access must be denied, and so the remote client has to be properly authorized by both the base station and the sensor node in order to ensure data access legitimacy. Many authentication procedures have been projected by researchers based on various frameworks of parameters such as (two-factor authentication (2-FA) = Smart card + Password) and (three-factor authentication (3-FA) = Biometric + Smart card + Password) in the literature. Das et al. (2015) projected a three-factor technique for resource-constrained distributed WSN to address the existing pitfalls. In this article, we present an analysis of Das et al.'s technique and point out some inconsistencies in the technique; demonstrating that the system is vulnerable against a known session-specific particular information attack, which thus prompts leakage of the client identity. We offer a robust subtree-based 3-FA procedure to fix the problem. In addition, we show the security strengths of our devised approach which have been established both informally and formally using the random oracle model and AVISPA tool.

Automated summary

Wireless sensor networks are vital for real-time monitoring systems in various aspects of life, requiring security measures like authentication to protect data privacy from unauthorized access. Researchers have proposed different authentication procedures to address these concerns and improve system security.