A Robust Password-based Authentication Scheme for Heterogeneous Sensor Networks

Abstract User authentication is a critical security function for computer systems that allow legitimate users remote access over an insecure communication network. In this paper, we propose a new password-based authentication scheme for heterogeneous sensor networks that consist of sensor nodes of different types. The proposed scheme allows legitimate users to query sensor data at any sensor node in the network, provides not only mutual authentication but also key agreement between a user and a sensor node, and adopts fuzzy identity-based encryption for gateway nodes and high-end sensor nodes. Additionally, our analysis shows that the proposed scheme is immune to some of the most notorious attacks, such as replay attacks, forgery attacks, offline-dictionary attacks, stolen smart card attacks, insider attacks, and many other potential breaches of security.