Achieving protection against man-in-the-middle attack in HB family protocols implemented in RFID tags. Issue 3 (5th September 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Aseeri, Aisha; Bamasag, Omaimah
• Is Part Of: International journal of pervasive computing and communications. Volume 12:Issue 3(2016)
• Page Start: 375
• Page End: 390
• Publication Date: 2016-09-05
• Subjects: HB protocols -- Lightweight authentication -- Man-in-the-middle attack -- RFID authentication -- RFID security; Ubiquitous computing -- Periodicals; Mobile computing -- Periodicals; Computer network protocols -- Periodicals; Computer network architectures -- Periodicals; Application software -- Development -- Periodicals; 004.6
• DOI: 10.1108/IJPCC-03-2016-0015
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1742-7371

Abstract

Abstract : Purpose: In the past few years, HB-like protocols have gained much attention in the field of lightweight authentication protocols due to their efficient functioning and large potential applications in low-cost radio frequency identification tags, which are on the other side spreading so fast. However, most published HB protocols are vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks such as GRS or OOV attacks. The purpose of this research is to investigate security issues pertaining to HB-like protocols with an aim of improving their security and efficiency. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, a new and secure variant of HB family protocols named HB-MP* is proposed and designed, using the techniques of random rotation. The security of the proposed protocol is proven using formal proofs. Also, a prototype of the protocol is implemented to check its applicability, test the security in implementation and to compare its performance with the most related protocol. Findings: The HB-MP* protocol is found secure against passive and active adversaries and is implementable within the tight resource constraints of today's EPC-type RFID tags. Accordingly, the HB-MP* protocol provides higher security than previous HB-like protocols without sacrificing performance. Originality/value: This paper proposes a new HB variant called HB-MP* that tries to be immune against the pre-mentioned attacks and at the same time keeping the simple structure. It will use only lightweight operations to randomize the rotation of the secret.