Enhancement authentication protocol using zero‐knowledge proofs and chaotic maps

Abstract

Summary Application of authentication protocol and key exchange scheme are major research issues in current internet, and entity identification (users or servers) accuracy and security are thereby safeguarded by various types of verification programs. Therefore, in the last 10 years, it was accompanied with productive discussions, but those discussions mainly focus on single issues, and because of the lack of security, there still existed improvements. The concept of zero‐knowledge proofs is well suited for the identification and signing within network system, which has been widely used since proposed in 1985. However, common identification methods are only fit for individual user. In an increasingly complex network environment of today, information is usually conveyed through many unidentified servers, as a result, we have to encrypt messages by adopting different kinds of session keys. As for the chaotic maps technology, it also serves as a new encryption technology, widely adopted in communication protocols and key agreements over the years. As a consequence, in this study, we are going to propose an authentication protocol with key exchange function by taking advantage of characters of zero‐knowledge proofs and chaotic maps, as well as adopt the BAN‐logic to prove the security of this protocol. This study also compares the results of the security analysis of our protocol and related works. As a result, our proposed protocol has more security than others. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.