An efficient two factor user authentication and key agreement scheme for wireless sensor networks using elliptic curve cryptography

In the present communication systems, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have an important role across many different areas, like environmental monitoring, healthcare and industrial control and automation. The communication in WSNs is through a wireless channel and providing secure communication is a major issue. For the enhancement of security measures over the past ten years, various types of mechanisms of user authentication for WSNs have been introduced. Recently, Kumar (Multimed. Tools Appl., 80(18):27131–27154, 2021) & Chen and Chen (Multimed. Tools Appl., 80(10):15291–15313, 2021) independently presented two user authentication mechanisms for WSNs. However, we discover that none of the mechanisms is resilient to various kinds of security threats. This study introduces a new two-factor user authentication mechanism that utilizes elliptic curve cryptography for WSNs to be able to solve the security shortcomings present in existing mechanisms. Informal and formal security proofs are also discussed to assure that the suggested mechanism provides the necessary security features. A formal security verification of the suggested mechanism utilizing the Proverif tool is provided. The suggested mechanism is more efficient and secure in contrast to other related mechanisms in terms of execution time and functionalities and security features.