A secure cluster-based authentication and key management protocol for machine-type communication in the LTE network

Abstract

Machine to machine (M2M) communication allows both the wireless and wired systems to communicate with other devices that have the same ability. The security services in mobile networks such as authentication, data confidentiality, and data integrity are mostly performed using cryptographic techniques. For this reason, we propose a secure cluster-based authentication, key management (SCAKM) protocol for machine-type communication in the long-term evolution (LTE) network. The proposed SCAKM protocol consists of the following three phases: clustering, new authentication, and key management. First, efficient clustering is achieved by an optimal spiral dynamic algorithm and CH selection is designed by the different constraints such as communication link quality, communication capability, and energy consumption. Second, authentication is done by the signcryption algorithm that enhances the security between the machine-type communication devices and the core network. Third, key management is done by the updated dynamic group membership management scheme. Moreover, the proposed SCAKM protocol is analyzed and validated by the network simulator (NS2) tool to signify its security against several malicious attacks. Simulation results show that the SCAKM protocol performs better than existing protocols in terms of bandwidth consumption, signaling overhead, transmission cost, and transmission delay.

KEYWORDS:

• M2m communication
• LTE network
• clustering
• key management
• NS2

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

K. Krishna Jyothi

K. Krishna Jyothi is working as Assistant Professor at the Department of CSE, SNIST, Hyderabad. She has completed her Bachelor of Engineering in Computer science and Engineering from JNTU, Hyderabad, India. She has completed her Master of Technology in Computer Science from JNTU, Hyderabad, A.P., India. She has 8 years of experience in Computer Science and Engineering areas pertaining to academics. She is presently doing her Ph.d. in Computer science and Engineering from REVA University Bangalore. Her areas of research and teaching include network security, computational intelligence, wireless networks. She has published three international journal papers. She is the Technical Reviewer for International journal publication – Springer (Wireless Personal Communication and Telecommunication Systems).

Shilpa Chaudhari

Shilpa chaudhari is working as Associate Professor at the department of CSE, MSRIT, Bangalore at present. She has completed her Bachelor of Engineering (Computer Science and Engineering) from North Maharashtra University, Jalgaon, India in 1998. She has completed her Master of Technology in Electronics from College of Engineering, Pune, India in 2003. She Has completed Doctor of Philosophy in Electronics Engineering from VTU, Belgaum at Reva Institute of Technology and Management, Bangalore in 2016 She has been a technology educator and corporate trainer since 1999. In the last 15 years, she has served in various academic positions in technical institutes in Maharashtra and Karnataka. Her areas of research and teaching include network security, RTOS, computational intelligence, wireless networks, embedded system development. She has published 5 international peer reviewed journal papers, 7 national journals papers, 5 IEEE international conference papers and 5 national conference papers in the area of multimedia security, embedded system development, and MANETs. She is the Technical Reviewer for International journal publication – Springer (Wireless Personal Communication and Telecommunication Systems). She is a committee member in ICIIET. She is a professional member of Computer Society of India (CSI) and IEEE.