A Robust and Anonymous Three-Factor Authentication Scheme Based ECC for Smart Home Environments

Smart homes are an emerging paradigm of Internet of Things (IoT) in which users can remotely control various home devices via the internet anytime and anywhere. However, smart home environments are vulnerable to security attacks because an attacker can inject, insert, intercept, delete, and modify transmitted messages over an insecure channel. Thus, secure and lightweight authentication protocols are essential to ensure useful services in smart home environments. In 2021, Kaur and Kumar presented a two-factor based user authentication protocol for smart homes using elliptic curve cryptosystems (ECC). Unfortunately, we demonstrate that their scheme cannot resist security attacks such as impersonation and session key disclosure attacks, and also ensure secure user authentication. Moreover, their scheme is not suitable in smart home environments because it utilizes public-key cryptosystems such as ECC. Hence, we design a secure and lightweight three-factor based privacy-preserving authentication scheme for IoT-enabled smart home environments to overcome the security problems of Kaur and Kumar’s protocol. We prove the security of the proposed scheme by using informal and formal security analyses such as the ROR model and AVISPA simulation. In addition, we compare the performance and security features between the proposed scheme and related schemes. The proposed scheme better provides security and efficiency compared with the previous schemes and is more suitable than previous schemes for IoT-enabled smart home environments.

Internet of Thing (IoT) is going to make such a world where physical things (smart home appliances, and smart watches etc.) revolutionized the information networks and services providing systems which provide innovative and smart services to human. With smart home technology, our living area is becoming more comfortable and convenient. Smart home technology provides automated, intelligent, smart, innovative and ubiquitous services to residential users through Information Communication Technology (ICT). Due to internet-connected, dynamic and heterogeneous nature of smart home environment creates new security, authentication and privacy challenges. In this paper, we investigate security attacks in smart home and evaluate their impact on the overall system security. We identified security requirements and solutions in the smart home environment. Based on several scenarios, we suggest to set security goals for the smart home environment. Based on historical data, we forecast security attacks (like malware, virus etc.) and estimated that how many attacks are expected to be launched in coming years.

Internet of Things (IoT) is an expanding technology that facilitate physical devices to inter-connect each other over a public channel. Moreover, the security of the next-generation wireless mobile communication technology, namely 5G with IoT, has been a field of much interest among researchers in the last several years. Previously, Sharif et al. had suggested an IoTbased lightweight three-party authentication scheme proclaiming a secured scheme against different threats. However, it was found that the scheme could not achieve user anonymity and guarantee session key security. Additionally, the scheme fails to provide proper authentication in the login phase, and it s unable to update a new password in the password change phase. Thus, we propose an improved three-factor-based data transmission authentication scheme (TDTAS) to address the weaknesses. The formal security analysis has been proved using the Real-or-Random (RoR) model. The informal security analysis demonstrates that the scheme is secure against several known attacks and achieves more security features. In addition, the comparison of the work with other related schemes demonstrates the proposed scheme has less communicational and storage costs.

The Internet of things is a new technological revolution following the computer and Internet. It aims to connect all physical objects existing in the world and forms a network with everything. In recent years, smart home gradually enters into our life. Smart home uses the Internet of things technology to connect all kinds of devices in the home, to achieve a smart home environment. Although the development of smart home has brought a qualitative leap to people’s life, there are many problems in security. Privacy security is one of the challenges to the smart home environment. Attackers can intrude various smart devices in the smart home environment, to achieve the purpose of stealing users’ personal information and privacy. Among these devices, smart cameras are the most intruded frequently. Since many cameras are installed in users’ homes to achieve real-time monitoring of the environment, but the existence of these cameras provides a channel to get information for attackers. In recent years, the leak of video privacy is emerging in an endless stream. According to the researches about privacy protection, this paper proposes a new scheme to selectively encrypt the video captured by the cameras through machine learning technology, so as to protect the personal privacy of users and improve the security of the smart home environment.

Establishing end-to-end authentication between devices and applications in Internet of Things (IoT) is a challenging task. Due to heterogeneity in terms of devices, topology, communication and different security protocols used in IoT, existing authentication mechanisms are vulnerable to security threats and can disrupt the progress of IoT in realizing Smart City, Smart Home and Smart Infrastructure, etc. To achieve end-to-end authentication between IoT devices/applications, the existing authentication schemes and security protocols require a two-factor authentication mechanism. Therefore, as part of this paper we review the suitability of an authentication scheme based on One Time Password (OTP) for IoT and proposed a scalable, efficient and robust OTP scheme. Our proposed scheme uses the principles of lightweight Identity Based Elliptic Curve Cryptography scheme and Lamport's OTP algorithm. We evaluate analytically and experimentally the performance of our scheme and observe that our scheme with a smaller key size and lesser infrastructure performs on par with the existing OTP schemes without compromising the security level. Our proposed scheme can be implemented in real-time IoT networks and is the right candidate for two-factor authentication among devices, applications and their communications in IoT.

The Internet of Things (IoT) environment is constantly evolving. Many IoT services have emerged, improving living conditions. Smart homes were among the first developments, and smart buildings, smart factories, and smart cities are attracting increasing attention. Smart cities represent the ultimate convergence of the IoT, the Cloud, big data, and mobile technology. Smart homes, buildings, and factories create smart cities. In addition, the IoT finds applications in traffic control, public safety, and medical services, permitting group-based communication. As the scale of service grows, the number of things (devices) constituting the service also increases. However, security vulnerabilities arise in group-based communication environments. A device may require authentication when entering a gateway; to secure environments with large numbers of devices (such as those featuring IoT smart metering), the gateways bear heavy loads. Therefore, efficient authentication of group leaders and devices is essential. Here, we develop a dynamic group authentication and key exchange scheme for group-based IoT smart metering environments which enables efficient communication among secure IoT services. Our group authentication scheme increases the computational efficiency of the group leader and the participating devices, based on a threshold secret sharing technique.

The Internet of Things (IoT) has emerged as a transformative technology that connects the physical and digital worlds, revolutionizing how devices, objects, and systems interact. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, IoT paves the way for the development of smart cities, homes, industries, and healthcare systems. This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the Internet of Things and its role in shaping the smart world.The first section of this paper delves into the foundational concepts of IoT, outlining its history, principles, and key components. The discussion highlights the rapid growth of IoT devices, sensors, and communication protocols, which have enabled seamless data exchange and connectivity on a global scale. The potential benefits and challenges of IoT adoption are addressed, emphasizing the need for robust security and privacy measures to protect against potential threats. The second section explores the pivotal role of IoT in shaping smart cities. With urbanization on the rise, the need for efficient resource management, sustainable infrastructure, and enhanced citizen services becomes more pressing. IoT-driven solutions empower cities to optimize traffic flow, manage energy consumption, improve waste management, and enhance public safety through real-time data analytics and predictive modeling.In the context of smart homes, the third section investigates how IoT applications have revolutionized the way people interact with their living spaces. Smart home devices, such as smart thermostats, lighting systems, and voice-activated assistants, provide users with increased convenience and energy efficiency. However, concerns surrounding data privacy and potential vulnerabilities necessitate a discussion on the best practices for securing smart home ecosystems. The fourth section examines the impact of IoT on industries, from manufacturing to agriculture. IoT-enabled industrial processes streamline production, enhance supply chain management, and facilitate predictive maintenance, leading to increased productivity and reduced operational costs. Additionally, precision agriculture applications of IoT offer farmers real-time data on soil conditions, weather patterns, and crop health, leading to improved crop yield and resource utilization.The fifth section addresses the transformation of healthcare systems through IoT integration. From remote patient monitoring to wearable health devices, IoT has opened new avenues for personalized and proactive healthcare. This section emphasizes the potential of IoT to revolutionize healthcare delivery by facilitating timely interventions, reducing hospital readmissions, and empowering patients to take an active role in their health management.The sixth section discusses the challenges and barriers hindering the widespread adoption of IoT and the smart world. Interoperability issues, standardization, and the complexity of integrating diverse systems pose significant challenges for stakeholders. Moreover, concerns regarding data ownership, privacy, and cyber-security remain key obstacles that need to be addressed to build public trust in IoT technologies. The final section explores future trends and possibilities for IoT and the smart world. With the proliferation of 5G networks, edge computing, and artificial intelligence, the potential for IoT applications is boundless. The paper concludes by emphasizing the importance of collaboration among governments, industries, and researchers to shape a sustainable and inclusive smart world powered by IoT technologies.In summary, this paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the Internet of Things and its role in shaping the smart world. From its foundational principles to its diverse applications across various sectors, IoT has the potential to transform societies and redefine how we interact with technology. However, addressing challenges related to security, privacy, and standardization is crucial to unlock the full potential of IoT and pave the way for a truly interconnected and intelligent future.

Wireless medical sensor networks (WMSNs) are used in remote medical service environments to provide patients with convenient healthcare services. In a WMSN environment, patients wear a device that collects their health information and transmits the information via a gateway. Then, doctors make a diagnosis regarding the patient, utilizing the health information. However, this information can be vulnerable to various security attacks because the information is exchanged via an insecure channel. Therefore, a secure authentication scheme is necessary for WMSNs. In 2021, Masud et al. proposed a lightweight and anonymity-preserving user authentication scheme for healthcare environments. We discover that Masud et al.’s scheme is insecure against offline password guessing, user impersonation, and privileged insider attacks. Furthermore, we find that Masud et al.’s scheme cannot ensure user anonymity. To address the security vulnerabilities of Masud et al.’s scheme, we propose a three-factor-based mutual authentication scheme with a physical unclonable function (PUF). The proposed scheme is secure against various security attacks and provides anonymity, perfect forward secrecy, and mutual authentication utilizing biometrics and PUF. To prove the security features of our scheme, we analyze the scheme using informal analysis, Burrows–Abadi–Needham (BAN) logic, the Real-or-Random (RoR) model, and Automated Verification of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) simulation. Furthermore, we estimate our scheme’s security features, computation costs, communication costs, and energy consumption compared with the other related schemes. Consequently, we demonstrate that our scheme is suitable for WMSNs.

Typical Internet of Things (IoT) and smart home environments are composed of smart devices that are controlled and orchestrated by applications developed and run in the cloud. Correctness is important for these applications, since they control the home’s physical security (i.e. door locks) and systems (i.e. HVAC). Unfortunately, many smart home applications and systems exhibit poor security characteristics and insufficient system support. Instead they force application developers to reason about a combination of complicated scenarios—asynchronous events and distributed devices. This paper demonstrates that existing cloud-based smart home platforms provide insufficient support for applications to correctly deal with concurrency and data consistency issues. These weaknesses expose platform vulnerabilities that affect system correctness and security (e.g. a smart lock erroneously unlocked). To address this, we present OKAPI, an application-level API that provides strict atomicity and event ordering. We evaluate our work using the Samsung SmartThings smart home devices, hub, and cloud infrastructure. In addition to identifying shortfalls of cloud-based smart home platforms, we propose design guidelines to make application developers oblivious of smart home platforms’ consistency and concurrency intricacies.

With the realisation of the Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm, the analysis of the Activities of Daily Living (ADLs), in a smart home environment, is becoming an active research domain. The existence of representative datasets is a key requirement to advance the research in smart home design. Such datasets are an integral part of the visualisation of new smart home concepts as well as the validation and evaluation of emerging machine learning models. Machine learning techniques that can learn ADLs from sensor readings are used to classify, predict and detect anomalous patterns. Such techniques require data that represent relevant smart home scenarios, for training, testing and validation. However, the development of such machine learning techniques is limited by the lack of real smart home datasets, due to the excessive cost of building real smart homes. This paper provides two datasets for classification and anomaly detection. The datasets are generated using OpenSHS, (Open Smart Home Simulator), which is a simulation software for dataset generation. OpenSHS records the daily activities of a participant within a virtual environment. Seven participants simulated their ADLs for different contexts, e.g., weekdays, weekends, mornings and evenings. Eighty-four files in total were generated, representing approximately 63 days worth of activities. Forty-two files of classification of ADLs were simulated in the classification dataset and the other forty-two files are for anomaly detection problems in which anomalous patterns were simulated and injected into the anomaly detection dataset.

Internet of Drones (IoD), designed to coordinate the access of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), is a specific application of the Internet of Things (IoT). Drones are used to control airspace and offer services such as rescue, traffic surveillance, environmental monitoring, delivery and so on. However, IoD continues to suffer from privacy and security issues. Firstly, messages are transmitted over public channels in IoD environments, which compromises data security. Further, sensitive data can also be extracted from stolen mobile devices of remote users. Moreover, drones are susceptible to physical capture and manipulation by adversaries, which are called drone capture attacks. Thus, the development of a secure and lightweight authentication scheme is essential to overcoming these security vulnerabilities, even on resource-constrained drones. In 2021, Akram et al. proposed a secure and lightweight user–drone authentication scheme for drone networks. However, we discovered that Akram et al.’s scheme is susceptible to user and drone impersonation, verification table leakage, and denial of service (DoS) attacks. Furthermore, their scheme cannot provide perfect forward secrecy. To overcome the aforementioned security vulnerabilities, we propose a secure mutual authentication and key agreement scheme between user and drone pairs. The proposed scheme utilizes physical unclonable function (PUF) to give drones uniqueness and resistance against drone stolen attacks. Moreover, the proposed scheme uses a fuzzy extractor to utilize the biometrics of users as secret parameters. We analyze the security of the proposed scheme using informal security analysis, Burrows–Abadi–Needham (BAN) logic, a Real-or-Random (RoR) model, and Automated Verification of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) simulation. We also compared the security features and performance of the proposed scheme and the existing related schemes. Therefore, we demonstrate that the proposed scheme is suitable for IoD environments that can provide users with secure and convenient wireless communications.

Internet of Things (IoT) devices and applications are growing for smart home use cases. Although various security risks have been identified in smart home devices, studies reveal that the majority of the smart home devices released in the market have multiple security vulnerabilities and, in many cases, no security mechanisms are implemented. These vulnerabilities of smart home networks are mostly attributed to user unawareness of security. Many users are not aware and do not have the technical skills or knowledge of what is happening on their devices in their smart home environment. When an intruder connects to their device or takes advantage of it, users are unaware of such a connection. This paper introduces a configuration tool that helps users to create device interaction rules that are added to an existing Network Intrusion Detection System (NIDS) in the smart home network. These rules generate alarms that alert the user if unwanted interaction takes place between their devices or from an external network, and in this way increases user awareness of the security of their smart home network.

The Internet of Things (IoT) application is visible in all aspects of humans’ day-to-day affairs. The demand for IoT is growing at an unprecedented rate, from wearable wristwatches to autopilot cars. The smart home has also seen significant advancements to improve the quality of lifestyle. However, the security and privacy of IoT devices have become primary concerns as data is shared among intelligent devices and over the internet in a smart home network. There are several attacks - node capturing attack, sniffing attack, malware attack, boot phase attack, etc., which are conducted by adversaries to breach the security of smart homes. The security breach has a negative impact on the tenants' privacy and prevents the availability of smart home services. This article presents smart homes' most common security attacks and mitigation techniques.

This chapter presents the concept of Smart Home, describes the Smart Home networking technologies and discusses the main issues for ensuring security in a Smart Home environment. Nowadays, the integration of current communication and information technologies within the dwelling has led to the emergence of Smart Homes. These technologies facilitate the building of Smart Home environments in which devices and systems can communicate with each other and can be controlled automatically in order to interact with the household members and improve the quality of their life. However, the nature of Smart Home environment, the fact that it is always connected to the outside world via Internet and the open security back doors derived from the household members raise many security concerns. Finally, by reviewing the existing literature regarding Smart Homes and security issues that exist in Smart Home environments, the authors envisage to provide a base to broaden the research in Smart Home security.

Authentication in cloud-driven IoT-based big data environment: Survey and outlook