Abstract

Quantum cryptography has the potential to secure the infrastructures that are vulnerable to various attacks, like classical attacks, including quantum-related attacks. Therefore, quantum cryptography seems to be a promising technology for the future secure online infrastructures and applications, like blockchain-based frameworks. In this article, we propose a generic quantum blockchain-envisioned security framework for an Internet of Things (IoT) environment. We then discuss some potential applications of the proposed framework. We also highlight the security advantages of quantum cryptography-based systems. We explain the working of blockchain, applications of blockchain, types of blockchain, the structure of blockchain, the structure of blockchain in a classical blockchain, and the structure of a block in a quantum blockchain context. Next, the adverse effects of quantum computing on the security of blockchain-based frameworks are highlighted. Furthermore, the comparisons of quantum cryptography-based security schemes, like quantum key distribution, quantum digital signature, and quantum hashing schemes, are provided. Finally, some future research directions related to the designed generic quantum blockchain-envisioned security framework for IoT are provided.

Abstract

The deployment of Agriculture 4.0 depends heavily on the adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) and wireless sensors for increasing productivity and reducing costs of cultivation. Wearable plant sensors (WPSs), an IoT variant, can greatly optimize agricultural yields, sense early indications of disease, reduce waste, and minimize environmental concerns. Nonetheless, the induction of WPS into the plant fields always remains precarious for its open nature. We can witness many authentication protocols for agriculture setting, yet inefficient or insecure due to their vulnerability to known attacks. Most of these protocols lack privacy and perfect forward secrecy (PFS)-based significant features and are not suited for agricultural fields due to the utilization of complex crypto-primitives. Thus, to realize Agriculture 4.0 objectives, novel security solutions based on ultralight crypto-primitives are required. We propose an authentication protocol (SAWPS) for WPSs using Chinese remainder theorem (CRT) that is not only lightweight but also ensures privacy and PFS features. Moreoever, SAWPS is resistant to known attacks, including denial of service (DoS), ephemeral secret leakage, man-in-the-middle, impersonation, and forgery threats. The theoretical evaluation along with formal analysis based on real-or-random (RoR) model is provided for correctness and security. The performance results demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness of SAWPS over the comparative studies.

Abstract

nternet of Medical Things (IoMT) enable users to avail healthcare services remotely. In IoMT, sensor nodes (SNs), like blood pressure sensors and temperature sensors, collect health data from patients and communicate it to Health Workers (HWs) such as doctors, nurses, and so on. The HWs cater to the patients remotely, known as remote patient monitoring (RPM), by using data obtained from SNs. The communicated health data between SNs and HWs are sensitive in nature. Leakage and modification of such data leads to huge consequences, particularly patient death during medical emergencies. Hence, ensuring mutual authentication along with data integrity and privacy is of utmost important in the healthcare domain. In the literature, many authentication protocols are presented for healthcare applications specific to IoMT-RPM. But, most of the existing approaches fail to provide adequate security against well-known attacks includes impersonation and man-in-the-middle attacks. In this paper, we propose a privacy preserving authentication protocol for IoMT-RPM which is secure against various known attacks. We present a rigorous formal security analysis of our protocol under the extended Canetti-Krawczyk (eCK) adversary model. In addition, we also perform formal verification using Tamarin Prover, a symbolic formal analysis tool. The results show that the proposed protocol is secure under eCK-adversary model. We then present the comparative performance analysis to show the efficiency of the proposed protocol over the existing protocols. As a result, the proposed protocol provides high security without compromising the performance over the existing protocols, and therefore, our protocol is very much suitable for real-time applications.

Abstract

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) promotes the fundamental tracking procedure of the Internet of Things (IoT) network due to its autonomous data collection as well as transfer incurring low costs. To overcome the insecure exchange of tracking data and to prevent unauthorized access, parallel dependency RFID grouping-proof protocol is applied by the reader to authenticate tags simultaneously. However, conventional grouping-proof authentication schemes are not sufficient for the memory constraint RFID tags due to the recurrent utilization of a 128-bit PRNG (Pseudo Random Number Generator) function. Alternatively, the existing parallel-dependency grouping-proof schemes are not able to overcome numerous limitations regarding session establishment, efficient key management, and multicast message communication within the specified group. In this research, a lightweight, secure, and efficient communication protocol is proposed to overcome the aforementioned limitations using Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) and Zero-Knowledge property to establish a session key among the participated tags, reader, and remote server. The proposed scheme can work in offline mode. The proposed ECC-based parallel dependency grouping-proof scheme is referred to as ECC-PDGPP which abides by the rules of the EPC class-1 gen-2 (C1 G2) standard of RFID tags. Finally, the proposed protocol is analyzed using a formal random oracle model and simulated using a well-known AVISPA simulation tool that shows the proposed scheme is well protected against all potential security threats.

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) has profoundly impacted today’s world. Recent technological advancements in the Internet and Information Communication (ICT) have paved the way for revolutionary technologies, making life easier for humankind. IoT has found applications in almost every sector, enabling the connectivity of digital objects to the Internet. This technology has undergone significant advancements, leading to the emergence of a new paradigm called the Internet of Nano Things (IoNT). IoNT represents the latest evolution of IoT and has garnered attention from researchers and scientists. By combining nanotechnology with IoT, IoNT offers a more advanced paradigm than its generic counterpart, potentially reshaping the current IoT landscape. However, these limitless benefits come with challenges that persist in both IoT and the emerging IoNT ecosystem. Moreover, additional challenges need to be addressed due to the miniature nature and novelty of the IoNT ecosystem. The lack of research in the field of IoNT has motivated us to undertake this study. Our research aims to highlight the security and privacy challenges specific to IoNT and nano communication. Furthermore, we examine important architectures related to IoNT, nanoscale communication, real-life applications of IoNT, as well as simulators and testbeds useful for IoNT. We also address challenges associated with the incorporation of novel technologies, primarily Artificial Intelligence (AI), into IoNT. To achieve this, we provide a detailed review of existing works related to the IoNT ecosystem, emphasizing security and privacy concerns. Additionally, we explore the opportunities and future directions for IoNT, serving as a reference for further research.

Abstract

The healthcare pandemic (for instance, the recently ongoing Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic) presented a challenge for researchers to find novel techniques to limit the transmission of the virus. In this context, contact tracing has emerged as an important method to curb the spread of disease. Although it can help combat disease outbreaks, if the contact tracing is executed without careful consideration then it could jeopardize the users’ privacy. The cryptographic technique, private set intersection (PSI) appears to be a logical solution. However, many existing PSI protocols rely on the security of number theory based problems, which are vulnerable in the quantum domain. Therefore, to address this issue we present a PSI protocol (namely qPSI) based on quantum cryptography. The communication and computational costs of existing schemes depend on the universal set size N. In comparison, qPSI requires computational and communication costs, which are independent of the universal set size N. Moreover, the existing Bloom filter based quantum PSI does not provide the exact intersection due to high false positive rate of the Bloom filter of server’s private set, whereas qPSI is not affected by the false positive rate and provides the exact set intersection. In addition, quantum PSI protocols use multi-particle entangled state or N single photons, and complicated oracle operators in N-dimensional Hilbert space. On the other hand, qPSI only utilizes single-photon quantum resources and projective measurements operations over a 2-dimensional Hilbert space. Therefore, qPSI is simple and efficient when compared to other existing PSI protocols in the state-of-the-art.

Abstract

With the continuing growth in various research domains such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Big Data Analytics (BDA), and Cloud Computing (CC), the Internet of Things (IoT) has become a popular technology nowadays. It provides a virtual interaction between physical objects and the cyber world over the Internet without human intervention. The IoT devices are embedded with sensors, software, or some other useful technologies for connecting, sharing, and exchanging data with other devices. Among recent technologies impacting human lives, Radio Frequency IDentification (RFID) has become a core identification technology that can be integrated into the IoT environments which connect billions of things or objects. However, an RFID system has two major issues: (i) an adversary can tamper or intercept the sensitive information of the RFID tags, which may cause forgery and privacy problems, and (ii) RFID tags have limited computational power capability which makes it challenging to use current security solutions. To deal with these issues, we propose an anonymous and reliable ultralightweight RFID-enabled authentication scheme (namely Anon AS) for IoT systems in a cloud computing environment. Anon AS integrates bitwise exclusive-OR, left–right rotations, and ultralightweight - operation, to reduce computational overheads on tag. The Anon AS provides stronger security (by preventing several attacks) and improves performance concerning low computational, communication, and storage costs. Also, it preserves information privacy and tags untraceability property by using Vaudenay privacy model. The Scyther simulation tool verification has been performed for its formal security analysis. The performance analysis ensures our Anon AS scheme is preferable for low-cost RFID systems.

Abstract

This study provides an in-depth survey of quantum secure authentication and key agreement protocols, investigating the dynamic landscape of cryptographic techniques within the realm of quantum computing. With the potential threat posed by quantum computing advancements to classical cryptographic protocols, the exploration of secure authentication and key agreement in the quantum era becomes imperative for safeguarding communication systems. The research scrutinizes evolving methodologies and innovations designed to enhance the security of authentication processes and key agreements in the context of quantum computing. A comprehensive examination of existing protocols is conducted, elucidating their strengths, limitations, and potential vulnerabilities. The research includes a comparative assessment of security features and computational burdens associated with various quantum secure authentication and key agreement protocols. The survey concludes by underscoring the urgent need for further research in the development of secure and efficient quantum cloud computing environments, as well as lightweight post-quantum cryptographic primitives, to ensure the viability of quantum secure authentication protocols on a universal scale. This comprehensive overview serves as a valuable resource for researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in the rapidly evolving field of quantum secure communication.

Abstract

The integration of fog computing and vehicular ad-hoc networks (VANETs) has become increasingly important due to advancements in cloud computing, Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, and intelligent transportation systems. However, ensuring secure communication in fog-based VANETs poses a significant challenge. To address this challenge, we propose a novel authenticated key agreement protocol that achieves mutual authentication, generates a secure session key for confidential communication, and ensures privacy protection without relying on bilinear pairing. We provide rigorous security proofs for our protocol, specifically tailored for fog-based VANETs, demonstrating its ability to meet their stringent security requirements. Simulations using NS3 allow for a comprehensive performance evaluation, providing insights into the protocol’s efficiency and scalability. Additionally, our protocol is highly efficient, featuring low computation and communication costs, thereby offering a practical and scalable solution for secure communication in fog-based VANETs.

Abstract

The Smart Power Grid (SPG) is pivotal in orchestrating and managing demand response in contemporary smart cities, leveraging the prowess of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Within the immersive SPG environment, the ubiquitous deployment of smart meters stands as a testament to their paramount importance in the realm of vigilant monitoring and oversight. These smart meters are installed on high-tension electricity lines and transmit information about electricity outages and other issues to the utility center. To access services from utility centers, smart meters need to communicate securely over a public channel, even though the network itself is insecure. However, potential attacks from adversaries (Ad) can exploit this communication. Therefore, protecting this communication is of utmost importance. Several privacy-preserving authentication protocols designed for SPG have been introduced in the literature. Nevertheless, a significant number of these protocols exhibit vulnerabilities to diverse security attacks. This article introduces a lightweight and anonymous authentication protocol specifically designed to address these concerns in the SPG environment. Our protocol ensures both security and efficiency, surpassing other comparable protocols in terms of its lightweight nature. By employing both formal and informal analysis, we showcase the robustness of our protocol against significant attacks while remaining lightweight. The proposed protocol provides added security features and incurs 23.8879% lower computation cost than related protocols. Consequently, our protocol is highly suitable for implementation in the SPG system.