A Secure Authentication Framework for Consumer Mobile Crowdsourcing Networks

The Mobile crowdsourcing network (MCN) leverages collaborative intelligence to solve complex tasks through group cooperation. It comprises three main components: the end-user, the service provider, and the mobile user. The end-user requests crowd-sensing and computing services from the service provider, who handles task decomposition, distribution, re-composition, and recommendation. Mobile users perform the crowd sensing and computing tasks. Despite its benefits, MCN faces significant security and privacy challenges. Communications between the service provider and the end-user involve sensitive data, and mobile users and service providers communicate over open channels, making them vulnerable to security threats. To address these concerns, we propose a secure authentication framework for MCN, called SAF-MCN. This framework combines the lightweight cryptographic primitive ' ASCON' with elliptic curve cryptography. SAF-MCN allows the service provider to authenticate mobile users before they join the MCN. Once authenticated, a secure channel is established for encrypted communication over the public Internet. The security of SAFMCN is validated using both formal and informal methods, demonstrating its resilience against potential attacks. The use of Scyther further ensures the security of SAF-MCN. Comparative analysis shows that SAF-MCN is superior in terms of security features, computational efficiency, and communication cost.