Efficient Authentication Algorithm for Secure Remote Access in Wireless Sensor Networks

Abstract

Wireless sensor networks convey mission critical data that calls for adequate privacy and security protection. To accomplish this objective, numerous intrusion detection schemes based on machine learning approaches have been developed. In addition, authentication and key agreements techniques have been developed using techniques such as elliptic curve cryptography, bilinear pairing operations, biometrics, fuzzy verifier and Rabin cryptosystems. However, these schemes have either high false positive rates, high communication, computation, storage or energy requirements, all of which are not ideal for battery powered sensor nodes. Moreover, majority of these algorithms still have some security and privacy challenges that render them susceptible to various threats. In this paper, a WSN authentication algorithm is presented that is shown to be robust against legacy WSN privacy and security attacks such as sidechannel, traceability, offline guessing, replay and impersonations. From a performance perspective, the proposed algorithm requires the least computation overheads and average computation costs among its peers.