A new authentication scheme with anonymity for wireless environments

TLDR

Wireless networks are vulnerable to attacks due to their open transmission media, and their security is more complex than wired networks, requiring authentication while accounting for limited resources such as power and bandwidth. The paper proposes a new, efficient wireless authentication protocol that provides user anonymity. The protocol uses hash functions and smart cards, with mobile users performing only symmetric encryption/decryption, and requires only one round of message exchange between the mobile user and visited network and one between the visited network and home network, employing a one‑time key for each session. Performance analysis shows the scheme is efficient.

Abstract

Wireless network is susceptible to security attacks because its openness of transmission media. Wireless network security is somewhat more concentrated and complex than that of wired network. Authentication is the most essential procedure to ensure that the service is properly used. But its limited resource, such as weak power supplies and limited bandwidth, must be taken into account in the design of security schemes. In this paper, we present a new and efficient wireless authentication protocol providing user anonymity. Our scheme is based on the hash function and smart cards, and mobile users only do symmetric encryption and decryption. In our protocol, it takes only one round of message exchange between the mobile user and the visited network, and one round of message exchange between the visited network and the corresponding home network. The most significant feature is one-time use of key between mobile user and visited network. Finally, the performance of our scheme is analyzed.