Blockchain-Based Secure Authentication Protocol for Fog-Enabled IoT Environments

Taehun Kim, Deokkyu Kwon, Yohan Park () and Youngho Park ()
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Taehun Kim: School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea
Deokkyu Kwon: School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea
Yohan Park: School of Computer Engineering, Keimyung University, Daegu 42601, Republic of Korea
Youngho Park: School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, Kyungpook National University, Daegu 41566, Republic of Korea

Mathematics, 2025, vol. 13, issue 13, 1-30

Abstract: Fog computing technology grants computing and storage resources to nearby IoT devices, enabling a fast response and ensuring data locality. Thus, fog-enabled IoT environments provide real-time and convenient services to users in healthcare, agriculture, and road traffic monitoring. However, messages are exchanged on public channels, which can be targeted to various security attacks. Hence, secure authentication protocols are critical for reliable fog-enabled IoT services. In 2024, Harbi et al. proposed a remote user authentication protocol for fog-enabled IoT environments. They claimed that their protocol can resist various security attacks and ensure session key secrecy. Unfortunately, we have identified several vulnerabilities in their protocol, including to insider, denial of service (DoS), and stolen verifier attacks. We also prove that their protocol does not ensure user untraceability and that it has an authentication problem. To address the security problems of their protocol, we propose a security-enhanced blockchain-based secure authentication protocol for fog-enabled IoT environments. We demonstrate the security robustness of the proposed protocol via informal and formal analyses, including Burrows–Abadi–Needham (BAN) logic, the Real-or-Random (RoR) model, and Automated Verification of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) simulation. Moreover, we compare the proposed protocol with related protocols to demonstrate the excellence of the proposed protocol in terms of efficiency and security. Finally, we conduct simulations using NS-3 to verify its real-world applicability.

Keywords: Internet of Things; fog computing; authentication; cryptanalysis; blockchain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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