A pairing-free ID-based group key agreement protocol using elliptic curve cryptography for secure group communication

Group key agreement (GKA) is a critical component of secure communication in group-oriented scenarios, such as multi-party messaging, collaborative environments, etc. Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC) is a widely adopted cryptographic technique known for its efficiency and strong security guarantees. However, ECC-based GKA protocols often rely on expensive pairings, which can be computationally expensive and limit their practical deployment. This paper introduces a new approach for group key agreement using elliptic curve cryptography without involving pairing computations and addressing the scalability and efficiency challenges associated with pairing-based protocols. The proposed protocol employs scalar point multiplications over a prime field elliptic curve group, which enables secure and efficient GKA operations with fewer computational overheads. The proposed protocol achieves comparatively better performance over existing ECC-based GKA protocols, regarding computational efficiency, communication overhead, and security strength. The protocol is particularly suitable for resource-constrained environments, such as IoT and edge computing scenarios, where computational resources are limited, but secure group communication is crucial.