SF-APP: A Secure Framework for Authentication and Privacy Preservation in Opportunistic Networks

Opportunistic networks are the special class of ad hoc networks where permanent link among the nodes are almost absent and communication occurs when an "opportunity" is found. The opportunistic networks have more diverse features than traditional ad hoc networks, like self-organized nature, intermittent connectivity, store-carry-forward routing mechanism, etc. All these features make opportunistic networks more prone to security threats. This article discusses security challenges and threats to opportunistic networks. Focusing on the specific security requirements of opportunistic networks, proposed is a secure framework for authentication and privacy preservation (SF-APP) for opportunistic networks. The proposed algorithm takes care of authentication, privacy preservation, and trust management. Within this article is a performed security analysis of SF-APP and simulation results show that the proposed framework is capable of fulfilling the security requirements of opportunistic networks.