15,487 research outputs found
Broadcast Authentication for Wireless Sensor Networks Using Nested Hashing and the Chinese Remainder Theorem
Secure broadcasting is an essential feature for critical operations in wireless sensor network (WSNs). However, due to the limited resources of sensor networks, verifying the authenticity for broadcasted messages is a very difficult issue. μTESLA is a broadcast authentication protocol, which uses network-wide loose time synchronization with one-way hashed keys to provide the authenticity verification. However, it suffers from several flaws considering the delay tolerance, and the chain length restriction. In this paper, we propose a protocol which provides broadcast authentication for wireless sensor networks. This protocol uses a nested hash chain of two different hash functions and the Chinese Remainder Theorem (CRT). The two different nested hash functions are employed for the seed updating and the key generation. Each sensor node is challenged independently with a common broadcasting message using the CRT. Our algorithm provides forward and non-restricted key generation, and in addition, no time synchronization is required. Furthermore, receivers can instantly authenticate packets in real time. Moreover, the comprehensive analysis shows that this scheme is efficient and practical, and can achieve better performance than the μTESLA system
Key recycling in authentication
In their seminal work on authentication, Wegman and Carter propose that to
authenticate multiple messages, it is sufficient to reuse the same hash
function as long as each tag is encrypted with a one-time pad. They argue that
because the one-time pad is perfectly hiding, the hash function used remains
completely unknown to the adversary.
Since their proof is not composable, we revisit it using a composable
security framework. It turns out that the above argument is insufficient: if
the adversary learns whether a corrupted message was accepted or rejected,
information about the hash function is leaked, and after a bounded finite
amount of rounds it is completely known. We show however that this leak is very
small: Wegman and Carter's protocol is still -secure, if
-almost strongly universal hash functions are used. This implies
that the secret key corresponding to the choice of hash function can be reused
in the next round of authentication without any additional error than this
.
We also show that if the players have a mild form of synchronization, namely
that the receiver knows when a message should be received, the key can be
recycled for any arbitrary task, not only new rounds of authentication.Comment: 17+3 pages. 11 figures. v3: Rewritten with AC instead of UC. Extended
the main result to both synchronous and asynchronous networks. Matches
published version up to layout and updated references. v2: updated
introduction and reference
Efficient and Low-Cost RFID Authentication Schemes
Security in passive resource-constrained Radio Frequency Identification
(RFID) tags is of much interest nowadays. Resistance against illegal tracking,
cloning, timing, and replay attacks are necessary for a secure RFID
authentication scheme. Reader authentication is also necessary to thwart any
illegal attempt to read the tags. With an objective to design a secure and
low-cost RFID authentication protocol, Gene Tsudik proposed a timestamp-based
protocol using symmetric keys, named YA-TRAP*. Although YA-TRAP* achieves its
target security properties, it is susceptible to timing attacks, where the
timestamp to be sent by the reader to the tag can be freely selected by an
adversary. Moreover, in YA-TRAP*, reader authentication is not provided, and a
tag can become inoperative after exceeding its pre-stored threshold timestamp
value. In this paper, we propose two mutual RFID authentication protocols that
aim to improve YA-TRAP* by preventing timing attack, and by providing reader
authentication. Also, a tag is allowed to refresh its pre-stored threshold
value in our protocols, so that it does not become inoperative after exceeding
the threshold. Our protocols also achieve other security properties like
forward security, resistance against cloning, replay, and tracking attacks.
Moreover, the computation and communication costs are kept as low as possible
for the tags. It is important to keep the communication cost as low as possible
when many tags are authenticated in batch-mode. By introducing aggregate
function for the reader-to-server communication, the communication cost is
reduced. We also discuss different possible applications of our protocols. Our
protocols thus capture more security properties and more efficiency than
YA-TRAP*. Finally, we show that our protocols can be implemented using the
current standard low-cost RFID infrastructures.Comment: 21 pages, Journal of Wireless Mobile Networks, Ubiquitous Computing,
and Dependable Applications (JoWUA), Vol 2, No 3, pp. 4-25, 201
Attacks on quantum key distribution protocols that employ non-ITS authentication
We demonstrate how adversaries with unbounded computing resources can break
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocols which employ a particular message
authentication code suggested previously. This authentication code, featuring
low key consumption, is not Information-Theoretically Secure (ITS) since for
each message the eavesdropper has intercepted she is able to send a different
message from a set of messages that she can calculate by finding collisions of
a cryptographic hash function. However, when this authentication code was
introduced it was shown to prevent straightforward Man-In-The-Middle (MITM)
attacks against QKD protocols.
In this paper, we prove that the set of messages that collide with any given
message under this authentication code contains with high probability a message
that has small Hamming distance to any other given message. Based on this fact
we present extended MITM attacks against different versions of BB84 QKD
protocols using the addressed authentication code; for three protocols we
describe every single action taken by the adversary. For all protocols the
adversary can obtain complete knowledge of the key, and for most protocols her
success probability in doing so approaches unity.
Since the attacks work against all authentication methods which allow to
calculate colliding messages, the underlying building blocks of the presented
attacks expose the potential pitfalls arising as a consequence of non-ITS
authentication in QKD-postprocessing. We propose countermeasures, increasing
the eavesdroppers demand for computational power, and also prove necessary and
sufficient conditions for upgrading the discussed authentication code to the
ITS level.Comment: 34 page
Transparent code authentication at the processor level
The authors present a lightweight authentication mechanism that verifies the authenticity of code and thereby addresses the virus and malicious code problems at the hardware level eliminating the need for trusted extensions in the operating system. The technique proposed tightly integrates the authentication mechanism into the processor core. The authentication latency is hidden behind the memory access latency, thereby allowing seamless on-the-fly authentication of instructions. In addition, the proposed authentication method supports seamless encryption of code (and static data). Consequently, while providing the software users with assurance for authenticity of programs executing on their hardware, the proposed technique also protects the software manufacturers’ intellectual property through encryption. The performance analysis shows that, under mild assumptions, the presented technique introduces negligible overhead for even moderate cache sizes
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