Cloud-Based Remote RFID Authentication for Security of Smart Internet of Things Applications

Radio frequency is the technology which enables smart labels to things. Thus, even physical things can participate in computing process. It is becoming popular due to its technological innovation and ability to overcome line of sight problem. With Internet of Things (IoT) technology, RFID usage became ubiquitous in smart applications or IoT use the cases like smart education, smart homes, smart healthcare and smart cities to mention a few. Integration of digital and physical worlds is made possible with IoT, RFID and host of other technologies and standards. When connected devices and things are uniquely identified using RFID technology, it is essential to know its utility in authentication process and security challenges thrown as well. RFID tag and RFID reader are involved in wireless communication and identification. RFID tags may carry sensitive information and its vulnerabilities if any are exploited by adversaries. Moreover, heavy computation is involved in RFID-based authentication. To overcome issues like privacy, security and overhead improvements have been proposed as found in the literature. Researchers used cryptographic tools, hash functions and symmetric key encryption for secure RFID communications. However, the level of security is still inadequate. In this paper, we proposed a cloud-based remote RFID authentication scheme with smart home as the case study. The proposed scheme has features like forward secrecy, anonymity and untraceability besides being light weight. It can withstand various security attacks. Our simulation study revealed that the proposed system model and the cloud-based remote RFID authentication scheme are effective in providing privacy and security as part of access control system in smart home IoT use case.