Scalable and Forward Secure Network Attestation With Privacy-Preserving in Cloud-Assisted Internet of Things

To ensure the normal work of the whole system in the context of the Internet of Things (IoT), remote attestation for each smart device should be guaranteed. However, considering the huge number of smart devices, the traditional individual attestation schemes cannot meet the requirements in terms of efficiency. In addition, protecting the sensitive identity information related to the devices also needs to be supported. Furthermore, avoiding security risks caused by the secret key exposures is very important in the context of the IoT, where the compromise of terminal devices frequently occurs. To solve these challenges, in this paper, we present a new network attestation scheme that, for the first time, provides scalability, forward-security, and privacy preserving simultaneously. The new scheme allows anyone to publicly verify a collective attestation, and any identity information of the provers will not be revealed to the verifier. Moreover, it provides unforgeability and confidentiality of the previous messages even though the current secret key is exposed. Considering the limited resources of lightweight devices in the context of the IoT, our scheme outsources the main computational task to an untrusted cloud server. Finally, our security proof and performance evaluation show that our scheme is secure and feasible.