An Anonymous Authentication Scheme Based on Chinese Residue Theorem in Wireless Body Area Networks

Abstract

Considering the resource limitations of low-cost wireless sensors, there is a growing inclination to utilize cryptographic primitives that are optimized for efficiency, such as symmetric key encryption/decryption and hash functions, when designing authentication schemes. However, designing a lightweight authentication scheme that can meet various security requirements poses a significant challenge. In recent years, numerous lightweight authentication schemes have been proposed in order to address these security needs. Nevertheless, recent research has revealed that many of these schemes exhibit security vulnerabilities and design deficiencies, including challenges related to asynchronization and impractical gateway-node search operations. Due to the inadequate security of existing schemes, this study introduces a novel privacy-preserving authentication scheme that aims to provide adaptive resilience against desynchronization attacks in wireless body area networks (WBANs). The proposed scheme utilizes lightweight cryptographic modules to optimize efficiency. To ensure user anonymity, the Chinese Remainder Theorem technique is employed, whereas forward secrecy and resistance to desynchronization attacks are achieved through the use of one-way hash chains and serial numbers, respectively. Through extensive analysis and comparisons, the proposed scheme is demonstrated to strike a fine balance between security and efficiency.