A blockchain-based authentication framework for smart homes

Abstract Blockchain authentication protocols play a crucial role in securing smart home systems. The scheme in ‘Fog-enabled private blockchain-based identity authentication scheme for smart home’ presented by Xu et al introduced blockchain authentication but showed inefficiencies in terms of security robustness and computational performance. In this paper, Xu et al ’s scheme is enhanced by incorporating Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman Ephemeral for secure key exchange and Hash-based Message Authentication Code for session verification. The improved protocol guarantees perfect forward secrecy and resists session-specific attacks. Moreover, a distributed consensus protocol is included to facilitate further decentralization and security. A security proof using BAN logic confirms that the presented scheme ensures mutual authentication and secure session key agreement. A formal verification was also performed using the Scyther tool, which validated the protocol’s resilience against common security threats. Additionally, a performance analysis is conducted to determine authentication time, computation overhead, and communication efficiency. The new scheme offers improved security against replay, man-in-the-middle attacks, and key compromise attacks, as well as reduced communication overhead, compared to Xu et al ’s scheme. The computational results indicate a 7% processing time increase while providing higher security with low overhead. With enhanced security features and performance optimization, the new scheme provides a secure and efficient authentication solution for smart home IoT environments.