A Novel Pairing-Free Lightweight Authentication Protocol for Mobile Cloud Computing Framework

The mobile cloud computing (MCC) refers to an infrastructure that integrates cloud computing and mobile computing, and it has changed a great deal, the service provisioning of applications, which requires to get the data processed after collection from vast sensor and Internet-of-Things-based network. The ever increasing number of handheld mobile gadgets has exacerbated the need for robust and efficient authenticated key agreements. We could witness a number of MCC-based multiserver authentication schemes lately to foster the secure adaptation of the technology; however, the demonstrated solutions are either insecure or employing too costly bilinear pairing operations for implementation. In view of limitations, as illustrated in previous studies, we propose a novel pairing-free multiserver authentication protocol for MCC environment based on an elliptic curve cryptosystem that is not only efficient, but also free from security loopholes as demonstrated. The performance evaluation section discusses and distinguishes the findings among latest studies. The strength of the contributed scheme is proved theoretically under formal security model.