Secure multicast using proxy re-encryption in IoT environment

Abstract

It appears that interest in the Internet of things (IoT) has recently reached its peak, with a great deal of focus from both the private and public sectors. IoT, a technology that enables the exchange of data through linkage among all objects surrounding the user, can create new services. Data communication among objects is not limited to personal information, but can also deliver different data types, such as sensing information collected from the surrounding environment. When such data is collected and used maliciously by an attacker, it is more vulnerable to threats than in conventional network environments. Security of all data transmitted in the IoT environment is therefore essential for preventing attacks. In IoT network composed of many sensors, group communication is required. However, it is difficult to apply the conventional cipher algorithm to IoT devices. In this paper, we propose a method to forward each group key to a group member in a decentralized way using proxy re-encryption. The proposed scheme is best suited for large-scale dynamic IoT networks without a central network controller.