A Secure Authentication Framework for Consumer Mobile Crowdsourcing Networks

The Mobile crowdsourcing network (MCN) leverages collaborative intelligence to solve complex tasks through group cooperation. It comprises three main components: the end-user, the service provider, and the mobile user. The end-user requests crowd-sensing and computing services from the service provider, who handles task decomposition, distribution, re-composition, and recommendation. Mobile users perform the crowd sensing and computing tasks. Despite its benefits, MCN faces significant security and privacy challenges. Communications between the service provider and the end-user involve sensitive data, and mobile users and service providers communicate over open channels, making them vulnerable to security threats. To address these concerns, we propose a secure authentication framework for MCN, called SAF-MCN. This framework combines the lightweight cryptographic primitive “ASCON” with elliptic curve cryptography. SAF-MCN allows the service provider to authenticate mobile users before they join the MCN. Once authenticated, a secure channel is established for encrypted communication over the public Internet. The security of SAF-MCN is validated using both formal and informal methods, demonstrating its resilience against potential attacks. The use of Scyther further ensures the security of SAF-MCN. Comparative analysis shows that SAF-MCN is superior in terms of security features, computational efficiency, and communication cost.