Digital Certificate Verification Scheme for Smart Grid using Fog Computing (FONICA)

Shahid Mahmood, Moneeb Gohar, Jin-Ghoo Choi, Seok-Joo Koh, Hani Alquhayz and Murad Khan
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Shahid Mahmood: Department of Computer Science, Bahria University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Moneeb Gohar: Department of Computer Science, Bahria University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Jin-Ghoo Choi: Department of Information and Communication Engineering, Yeungnam University, Gyongsan 38541, Korea
Seok-Joo Koh: School of Computer Science and Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea
Hani Alquhayz: Department of Computer Science and Information, College of Science in Zulfi, Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia
Murad Khan: School of Computer Science and Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Korea

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 5, 1-19

Abstract: Smart Grid (SG) infrastructure is an energy network connected with computer networks for communication over the internet and intranets. The revolution of SGs has also introduced new avenues of security threats. Although Digital Certificates provide countermeasures, however, one of the issues that exist, is how to efficiently distribute certificate revocation information among Edge devices. The conventional mechanisms, including certificate revocation list (CRL) and online certificate status protocol (OCSP), are subjected to some limitations in energy efficient environments like SG infrastructure. To address the aforementioned challenges, this paper proposes a scheme incorporating the advantages and strengths of the fog computing. The fog node can be used for this purpose with much better resources closer to the edge. Keeping the resources closer to the edge strengthen the security aspect of smart grid networks. Similarly, a fog node can act as an intermediate Certification Authority (CA) (i.e., Fog Node as an Intermediate Certification Authority (FONICA)). Further, the proposed scheme has reduced storage, communication, processing overhead, and latency for certificate verification at edge devices. Furthermore, the proposed scheme reduces the attack surface, even if the attacker becomes a part of the network.

Keywords: digital certificate revocation; smart grid (SG); Internet of Things; CRL; OCSP; edge devices; fog computing; IoT Devices; FONICA (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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