A Location-Based Authentication Enhanced Protocol for Secure and Efficient Data Aggregation in IoT-Based WSNs

In recent years, secure data aggregation in IoT-based Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) has become critical for ensuring data confidentiality and integrity. However, existing methods struggle to identify spoofing where malicious nodes use fake IDs to bypass the detection of wormholes and compromise the network. A location-based authentication-enhanced End-to-End Homomorphic Encryption protocol (LBA-EEHE) framework is proposed, which integrates location verification with secure aggregation. Initially, the simulated data were generated using a controlled experimental setup. Furthermore, common neighbor tables (CNTs) were created to record legitimate neighbor relationships. The Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) is then used to estimate the distance of a node, enabling the detection of spoofed identities by cross-verifying with CNT data. After verifying node legitimacy, EEHE is applied to encrypt the data, which allows aggregation without decryption to preserve confidentiality. Message Authentication Codes (MACs) and subMACs are then generated by monitoring nodes to verify the integrity of the encrypted data during transmission. Finally, experimental results showed that proposed method achieved 66.67% wormhole detection accuracy, reduced false positives by 9.0%, improved energy efficiency by 30%, and extended system lifetime to 20% compared to existing protocols. This lightweight solution enhances the security and reliability of the WSN data aggregation in constrained environments.