Combating Identity De-Synchronization: An Improved Lightweight Symmetric key based Authentication scheme for IoV

Abstract

Due to its resource-friendly nature, symmetric-key based authentication methods are prioritized over public key infrastructure for employment in resource-constrained devices. Recently, a large number of symmetric-key based authentication protocols are proposed; however, the real progress is still marginal owing to repeated mistakes. Specifically, the emphasis on anonymity and privacy alongside the computational and communicative efficiencies has introduced some design flaws. The Identity De-Synchronization (ID-S) is one of such important issues that surfaced owing to such design flaws. This article aims to emphasize the causes and pitfalls of ID-S and for this purpose, a recent symmetric-key based authentication for the internet of vehicles (IoV) is analyzed. Precisely, it is to show in this article that the scheme of Xu et al. is vulnerable against ID-S under the widely used DY adversarial model. The article also proposes the available remedies to avoid ID-S and proposes an improved scheme.