A Chain Based Signature Scheme for Uplink and Downlink Communications in AMI Networks

Abstract

Smart grid is an electric infrastructure that makes extensive use of communication and information technology making it a surface for numerous cyber-security threats. In this research, we propose an authentication scheme for downlink and uplink communications in the advanced metering infrastructure network. The proposal is based on chain based signature with some modifications to tackle its computation and storage overhead. Besides, the proposal integrates symmetric encryption with the signature scheme to ensure data privacy and confidentiality. Our analysis proves that the proposed scheme is resilient against numerous known attacks and is efficient in terms of computation cost and ciphertext size.