A secure user authentication protocol for sensor network in data capturing

Sensor network is an important approach of data capturing. User authentication is a critical security issue for sensor networks because sensor nodes are deployed in an open and unattended environment, leaving them possible hostile attack. Some researchers proposed some user authentication protocols using one-way hash function or using biometric technology. Recently, Yel et al. and Wenbo et al. proposed a user authentication protocols using elliptic curves cryptography. However, there are some security weaknesses for these protocols. In the paper, we review several proposed user authentication protocols, with a detail review of the Wenbo et al.’s user authentication protocol and a cryptanalysis of this protocol that shows several security weaknesses. Furthermore, we propose a secure user authentication protocol using identity-based cryptography to overcome those weaknesses. Finally, we present the security analysis, a comparison of security, computation, and performance for the proposed protocols, which shows that this user authentication protocol is more secure and suitable for higher security WSNs.