SKINNY-Based RFID Lightweight Authentication Protocol

With the rapid development of the Internet of Things and the popularization of 5G communication technology, the security of resource-constrained IoT devices such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)-based applications have received extensive attention. In traditional RFID systems, the communication channel between the tag and the reader is vulnerable to various threats, including denial of service, spoofing, and desynchronization. Thus, the confidentiality and integrity of the transmitted data cannot be guaranteed. In order to solve these security problems, in this paper, we propose a new RFID authentication protocol based on a lightweight block cipher algorithm, SKINNY, (short for LRSAS). Security analysis shows that the LRSAS protocol guarantees mutual authentication and is resistant to various attacks, such as desynchronization attacks, replay attacks, and tracing attacks. Performance evaluations show that the proposed solution is suitable for low-cost tags while meeting security requirements. This protocol reaches a balance between security requirements and costs.