Secure identity key and blockchain-based authentication approach for secure data communication in multi-WSN

Blockchain technology is an effective way to protect data that is handled by wireless sensor network (WSN). The traditional authentication protocol relies on trusted third parties, and most of the WSN paradigm does not allow these conditions, which results in single-point failure. Sometimes the authentication process is slower, eventually hampers user experience, and thus users are inclined towards other alternatives that can offer multi-factor authentication. To solve such issues, a secure identity key and blockchain-based authentication framework is designed using a hybrid blockchain system in multi-WSN to enhance the system's security. The nodes cooperate in the network to perform specific tasks such that interaction between nodes ensures the legitimacy of node's identity. With hybrid blockchain technology, nodes' identity information is authenticated and stored in the network after verification to establish communication among ordinary nodes and between the ordinary nodes and end user. The proposed method obtains higher security by achieving less computation time, higher detection rate, and limited memory usage of 0.072 s, 92.48%, and 3.925 MB, respectively. The developed authentication method is proved capable of proving resistance in case of different attacks in the network.