Open Access

ARTICLE

Robust Authentication and Session Key Agreement Protocol for Satellite Communications

Somayeh Soltani¹, Seyed Amin Hosseini Seno¹, Juli Rejito², Rahmat Budiarto^3,*
1 Department of Computer Engineering, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, 9177948974, Iran
2 Faculty of Mathematics and Science, Universitas Padjadjaran, Jatinangor, 45363, Indonesia
3 Faculty of Computer Science, Universitas Mercu Buana, Jakarta, 11650, Indonesia
* Corresponding Author: Rahmat Budiarto. Email:
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Security and Privacy issues for various Emerging Technologies and Future Trends)

Computers, Materials & Continua 2022, 71(3), 5891-5910. https://doi.org/10.32604/cmc.2022.023697

Received 17 September 2021; Accepted 08 December 2021; Issue published 14 January 2022

Abstract

Satellite networks are recognized as the most essential communication infrastructures in the world today, which complement land networks and provide valuable services for their users. Extensive coverage and service stability of these networks have increased their popularity. Since eavesdropping and active intrusion in satellite communications are much easier than in terrestrial networks, securing satellite communications is vital. So far, several protocols have been proposed for authentication and key exchange of satellite communications, but none of them fully meet the security requirements. In this paper, we examine one of these protocols and identify its security vulnerabilities. Moreover, we propose a robust and secure authentication and session key agreement protocol using the elliptic curve cryptography (ECC). We show that the proposed protocol meets common security requirements and is resistant to known security attacks. Moreover, we prove that the proposed scheme satisfies the security features using the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) formal verification tool and On-the fly Model-Checker (OFMC) and ATtack SEarcher (ATSE) model checkers. We have also proved the security of the session key exchange of our protocol using the Real or Random (RoR) model. Finally, the comparison of our scheme with similar methods shows its superiority.

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Keywords

Satellite communications; authentication; session key agreement; secure communication; security protocols; formal verification

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