An Authentication-Based Secure Data Aggregation Method in Internet of Things

Area of Science:

• Computer Science
• Network Security
• Internet of Things (IoT)

Background:

• The proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices has raised significant privacy and security concerns due to increased vulnerability to data theft by malicious actors.
• Existing security measures struggle to adequately protect sensitive information transmitted across interconnected devices, hindering IoT adoption.
• The need for robust security protocols is paramount to ensure user trust and facilitate the widespread implementation of IoT technologies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To propose and evaluate a novel, multi-phase security method for enhancing data protection in Internet of Things (IoT) networks.
• To address critical security challenges, including unauthorized access and data breaches, within clustered IoT environments.
• To improve the overall performance of IoT networks by optimizing energy consumption and data transmission efficiency.

Main Methods:

• A three-phase security framework is implemented: 1) intra-cluster key sharing using a star structure for encrypted parent-child communication.
• 2) Multi-hop data transmission within clusters with hop-by-hop encryption and dynamic key updates.
• 3) Inter-cluster communication security enhanced through an authentication protocol for cluster heads to prevent malicious node infiltration. Simulation performed using NS2.

Main Results:

• The proposed method demonstrated significant improvements in key performance indicators compared to existing solutions.
• Observed enhancements include reduced energy consumption and end-to-end delay.
• Notable improvements were also recorded in packet delivery rate and the number of active nodes, indicating increased network efficiency and reliability.

Conclusions:

• The developed security protocol effectively enhances the privacy and information security of the Internet of Things (IoT).
• The method provides a robust solution for securing data in both intra-cluster and inter-cluster communications.
• The simulation results validate the proposed approach's superiority in terms of network performance and security efficacy.