Provably Secure and Optimal Inter-Satellite Link Authentication for Low Orbit Satellites

Low Orbit Satellites can provide continuous and ubiquitous internet access to even the most remote areas of the world, where terrestrial infrastructure is limited or nonexistent. This is especially important for industries like agriculture, mining, and logistics that operate in remote locations. However, they face security challenges due to rapid movement and frequent handovers. This paper presents a novel dynamic Inter-Satellite Link (ISL) Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA) scheme for low orbit satellites. This scheme leverages orbital signals and Hyperelliptic Curve Cryptography (HECC) to ensure mutual authentication, message confidentiality, integrity, and satellite anonymity while being resilient against various attacks. Our protocol reduces computational cost by 76.52-98.77%, communication overhead by 29.54-88.99%, compared to existing schemes. Formal validation using the Scyther tool and Ban Logic confirms our protocol’s security, optimal performance, and privacy preservation.