Efficient password mutual authentication scheme with session key agreement using smart card

Password authentication is the most common mechanism used to ensure secure communication in an open network. Many password authentication schemes based on two hard problems, i.e. factoring and discrete logarithm, have been proposed in the literature. Even though the related previous schemes provided attractive security attributes, their computational and message transmission costs are high. Thus, this paper proposes an improved password authentication scheme based on modified two hard problems with session key agreement using smart cards. The proposed scheme is proven to resist replay, lost/stolen smart card, forgery, and denial-of-service attacks. Furthermore, BAN logic is used for security verification proof of the proposed password authentication scheme. The performance analysis shows that the proposed scheme is more efficient in terms of communication cost and time complexity when compared to other relevant schemes.