Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

A secure n-secret based client authentication protocol for 802.11 WLANs

  • Published:
Telecommunication Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Authentication has strong impact on the overall security model of every information system. Various authentication techniques are available for restricting the access of unauthorized users to the enterprise scale networks. IEEE 802.1X defines a secure and reliable authentication framework for 802.11 WLANs, where Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) provides the base to this architecture. EAP is a generic architectural framework which supports extensibility by incorporating the new and improved authentication schemes, which are based on different types of credentials. Currently there exist a number of EAP and Non-EAP methods with varying level of security and complexity. In this work, we have designed a new n-secret based authentication scheme referred here as Personal Dialogue Based Authentication, for the client authentication to the network. It is a Transport Layer Security (TLS) protected authentication protocol, which will be executed inside the secure TLS tunnel for providing the privacy and credential security to the wireless client. The developed authentication protocol has a reasonable set of features like; strong security, user privacy, simplicity and extensibility. For the formal analysis of the protocol we have used SPAN–AVISAP model checker on Ubuntu platform for validating the realization of the specified security goals. The experimental results obtained by simulation performed with the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) tool shows that our protocol is efficient and secured.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Peisert, S., Talbot, E., & Kroeger, T. (2013). Principles of authentication. In New security paradigms (pp. 47–56). London: ACM.

  2. Aldwairi, M., & Aldhanhani, S. (2017). Multi-factor authentication system. In International conference on research and innovation in computer engineering and computer sciences. Malaysia: MTSA.

  3. Ajah, I. A. (2014). Evaluation of enhanced security solutions in 802.11-based networks. International Journal of Network Security and Its Applications, 6(4), 29–42.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Geier, J. (2008). Implementing 802.1 X security solutions for wired and wireless networks. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Idrissi, Y. E. H. E., Zahid, N., & Jedra, M. (2011). A new EAP authentication method for IEEE 802.11 wireless. International Journal of Computer Science and Network Security, 11(6), 1–11.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Kbar, G. (2010). Wireless network token-based fast authentication. IN International conference on telecommunications (pp. 227–233). Qatar: IEEE.

  7. Jindal, P., & Singh, B. (2013). Fast and secure authentication using double token based scheme for WLANs. International Journal of Computer Applications, 62(8), 25–32.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Alezabi, K. A., Hashim, F., Hashim, S. J., & Ali, B. M. (2013). A new tunnelled EAP based authentication method for WiMAX networks. InInternational conference on communications (pp. 412–417). Malaysia: IEEE.

  9. Eshmurzaev, B., & Dalkilic, G. (2012). Analysis of EAP-FAST protocol. In International conference on information technology interfaces (pp. 417–422). Croatia: IEEE.

  10. Vighnesh, N. V., Kavita, N., Shalini, R. U., & Sampalli, S. (2011). A novel sender authentication scheme based on hash chain for vehicular ad-hoc networks. In Symposium on wireless technology and applications (pp. 96–101). Malaysia: IEEE.

  11. Li, X., Bao, F., Li, S., & Ma, J. (2013). FLAP: an efficient WLAN initial access authentication protocol. IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 25(2), 488–497.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Hong-tao, G. (2015). Fast authentication method for wireless local area network. International Journal of Security and Its Applications, 9(6), 53–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Fan, C., Lin, Y. H., & Hsu, R. H. (2012). Complete EAP method: User efficient and forward secure authentication protocol for IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs. IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 24(4), 672–680.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Newman, L. H. (2017). The secure Wi-Fi standard has a huge dangerous flaw. Resource Document. Wired. Retrieved March 25, 2020 from https://www.wired.com/story/krack-wi-fi-wpa2-vulnerability.

  15. Alliance, Wi-Fi. (2019). Discover Wi-Fi security. Resource Document. Retrieved March 29, 2020, from https://www.wi-fi.org/discover-wi-fi/security.

  16. TSA Division, TEC (2018). WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) Security. Resource Document. Retrieved March 29, 2020, from http://tec.gov.in/pdf/Studypaper/WLANsecuritystudypaper.pdf.

  17. Shojaie, B., Saberi, I., & Salleh, M. (2017). Enhancing EAP-TLS authentication protocol for IEEE 802.11i. Wireless Networks, 23(5), 1491–1508.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Dejamfar, S. M., & Najafzadeh, S. (2017). Enhancing efficiency of EAP-TTLS protocol through the simultaneous use of encryption and digital signature algorithm. International Journal of Network Security & Its Applications, 9(4), 45–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Bahrami, N., Shiri, M. E., & Akhgar, M. S. (2013). Enhanced authentication protocol EAP-TTLS using encrypted ECDSA. International Journal of Computer Science Issues, 10(6), 173–177.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Hoeper, K., & Chen, L. (2010). An inconvenient truth about tunneled authentications. In IEEE conference on local computer networks (LCN). https://doi.org/10.1109/LCN.2010.5735754.

  21. Aboba, B., Blunk, L., Vollbrecht, J., Carlson, J., & Levkowetz, H. (2004). RFC 3748-Extensible authentication protocol (EAP) (pp. 1–67). Network Working Group, The Internet Society

  22. Genet, T. (2015). A short SPAN+AVISPA tutorial. Research Report. https://hal.inria.fr/hal-01213074v1/document.

  23. Viganò, L. (2006). Automated security protocol analysis with the AVISPA tool. Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science, 155, 61–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

No funding agency.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. IKG PTU, Kapurthala, India

    Pawan Kumar

  2. DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jalandhar, India

    Dinesh Kumar

Authors
  1. Pawan Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Dinesh Kumar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dinesh Kumar.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

No human participations and/or animals has been involved in this work.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Kumar, P., Kumar, D. A secure n-secret based client authentication protocol for 802.11 WLANs. Telecommun Syst 75, 259–271 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11235-020-00683-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11235-020-00683-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation