Cryptanalysis on two certificates signature schemes

Certificateless cryptography has attracted a lot of attention from the research community, due to its applicability in information security. In this paper, we analyze two recently proposed certificateless signature schemes and point out their security flaws. In particular, we demonstrate universal forgeries against these schemes with known message attack

McCLS: Certificateless Signature Scheme for Emergency Mobile Wireless Cyber-Physical Systems

Mobile Ad Hoc Network is a self-configurable and self-organizing wireless network of mobile devices without fixed infrastructure support, which makes it a good candidate as underlying communication network for the Cyber-Physical Systems in emergency conditions such as earthquake, flood, and battlefields. In these scenarios, efficient communication schemes with security support are especially desired. Two cryptography approaches, the public key cryptography and the identitybased cryptography, face the costly and complex key management problem and the “key escrow" problem in the real-life deployment. Recently, the certificateless public key cryptography (CL-PKC) was introduced to address these problems in previous approaches. However, the efficiency of the schemes based on CL-PKC is not high and can be improved further. In this paper, we present an improved certificateless signature scheme (McCLS) based on bilinear pairings. First, we theoretically compare the efficiency of McCLS with that of existing certificateless signature schemes (CLS). Second, an empirical study is conducted to compare the traditional AODV with the McCLS scheme based on AODV (McDV) in their efficiency and effectiveness against two most common attacks (i.e. redirection attack and rushing attack). Results from theoretical analysis show that the new McCLS scheme is more efficient than existing CLS solutions, and results from empirical studies show that the McDV is able to resist the two common attacks without causing substantial degradation of the network performance

Privacy-aware secure anonymous communication protocol in CPSS cloud computing

Cloud computing has emerged as a promising paradigm for the Internet of Things (IoT) and Cyber-Physical-Social Systems (CPSS). However, the problem of how to ensure the security of data transmission and data storage in CPSS is a key issue to address. We need to protect the confidentiality and privacy of users’ data and users’ identity during the transmission and storage process in CPSS. In order to avoid users’ personal information leakage from IoT devices during the process of data processing and transmitting, we propose a certificateless encryption scheme, and conduct a security analysis under the assumption of Computational Diffie-Hellman(CDH) Problem. Furthermore, based on the proposed cryptography mechanism, we achieve a novel anonymous communication protocol to protect the identity privacy of communicating units in CPSS. In the new protocol, an anonymous communication link establishment method and an anonymous communication packet encapsulation format are proposed. The Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm is used to construct the anonymous keys distribution method in the new link establishment method. And in the new onion routing packet encapsulation format, the session data are firstly separated from the authentication data to decrease the number of cryptography operations. That is, by using the new onion routing packet we greatly reduces the encryption operations and promotes the forwarding efficiency of anonymous messages, implementing the privacy, security and efficiency in anonymous communication in cyber-physical-social systems

Cryptanalysis of Provably Secure Certicateless Short Signature Scheme

Recently, Choi et al. proposed certificateless short signature scheme in random oracle model and the author claims that it is provably secure. Certificateless Public Key Cryptography is a new paradigm, where it allows resolving the inherent key escrow and key management problem. Attack to certificateless signature scheme are of two types as Type-I where the adversary can replace the public key of the user and cannot able to retrieve the master secret key from Key Generator Center (KGC). In Type-II, the adversary can able to obtain the master secret key and cannot replace the public key of the user. In this paper we have proven that, the proposed scheme is not secure against Type-I adversary. To prove, we solve linear Diophantine equation and obtain the partial-private key of the user

Securing IT/OT Links for Low Power IIoT Devices:Design considerations for industry 4.0

Manufacturing is facing a host of new security challenges due to the convergence of information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) in the industry. This article addresses the challenges that arise due to the use of low power Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) devices in modular manufacturing systems of Industry 4.0. First, we analyze security challenges concerning the manufacturing execution system (MES) and programmable logic controllers (PLC) in IIoT through a selective literature review. Second, we present an exploratory case study to determine a protocol for cryptographic key management and key exchange suitable for the Smart Production Lab of Aalborg University (a learning cyber-physical factory). Finally, we combine the findings of the case study with a quality function deployment (QFD) method to determine design requirements for Industry 4.0. We identify specific requirements from both the high-level domain of factory capabilities and the low-level domain of cryptography and translate requirements between these domains using a QFD analysis. The recommendations for designing a secure smart factory focus on how security can be implemented for low power and low-cost IIoT devices. Even though there have been a few studies on securing IT to OT data exchange, we conclude that the field is not yet in a state where it can be applied in practice with confidence

A survey on wireless body area networks: architecture, security challenges and research opportunities.

In the era of communication technologies, wireless healthcare networks enable innovative applications to enhance the quality of patients’ lives, provide useful monitoring tools for caregivers, and allows timely intervention. However, due to the sensitive information within the Wireless Body Area Networks (WBANs), insecure data violates the patients’ privacy and may consequently lead to improper medical diagnosis and/or treatment. Achieving a high level of security and privacy in WBAN involves various challenges due to its resource limitations and critical applications. In this paper, a comprehensive survey of the WBAN technology is provided, with a particular focus on the security and privacy concerns along with their countermeasures, followed by proposed research directions and open issues

Security of IoT in 5G Cellular Networks: A Review of Current Status, Challenges and Future Directions

The Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a global network that integrates real life physical objects with the virtual world through the Internet for making intelligent decisions. In a pervasive computing environment, thousands of smart devices, that are constrained in storage, battery backup and computational capability, are connected with each other. In such an environment, cellular networks that are evolving from 4G to 5G, are set to play a crucial role. Distinctive features like high bandwidth, wider coverage, easy connectivity, in-built billing mechanism, interface for M2M communication, etc., makes 5G cellular network a perfect candidate to be adopted as a backbone network for the future IoT. However, due to resource constrained nature of the IoT devices, researchers have anticipated several security and privacy issues in IoT deployments over 5G cellular network. Off late, several schemes and protocols have been proposed to handle these issues. This paper performs a comprehensive review of such schemes and protocols proposed in recent times. Different open security issues, challenges and future research direction are also summarized in this review paper