Hash Chain Based Secure Communication for Internet of Things: Architecture and Schemes

In the era of the Internet of Things (IoT), the interconnection of physical information systems with the Internet is transforming various domains such as logistics, manufacturing, connected vehicles, and smart cities. Due to the proliferation of IoT devices, securing their communication becomes critical. IoT device communications are usually not authenticated or encrypted, and traditional authentication schemes based on asymmetric/symmetric cryptographic systems cannot cope with the unique challenges posed by IoT, such as resource constraints, large scale, scalability, and decentralized trust requirements. This research designs a novel IoT device authentication framework based on lightweight cryptography techniques. Firstly, we propose AMA, a lightweight anonymous authentication scheme for IoT. Then a reliable and scalable authentication scheme HBMA is provided by exploiting the immutability of hash chains. The lightweight cryptography technique ensures that the computational overhead is minimized for resource constrained IoT devices. The study also concludes with a detailed analysis of the security features of the proposed framework and summarizes future research directions. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and efficiency of the proposed scheme for the IoT ecosystem, paving the way for more secure and reliable IoT applications.