An Enhanced Security Data Transmission Scheme for Wireless Medical Sensor Network

Xi Chen; Chunqiang Hu; Yuwen Chen; Xiaofeng Xia; Bin Cai; Jiguo Yu

doi:10.53941/jmlis.2026.100003

Abstract

Wireless Medical Sensor Networks (WMSNs) facilitate the real-time collection and transmission of patients’ physiological data, enabling remote healthcare and intelligent medical services. However, the inherent openness of wireless communication renders sensitive data vulnerable to security threats such as interception, tampering, and replay attacks. To mitigate these issues, this paper introduces a novel certificateless aggregate signcryption scheme based on elliptic curve cryptography. The proposed scheme eliminates the complexities associated with certificate management, ensures data confidentiality and unforgeability, and incorporates an anonymity mechanism to safeguard client identities. Moreover, an efficient invalid signature detection algorithm is introduced, which utilizes an authentication key to swiftly identify malicious nodes in the event of aggregate verification failure, thereby minimizing redundant computations and improving system robustness. Under the random oracle model, formal security proofs demonstrate the scheme’s resilience against adaptive chosen-ciphertext and forgery attacks. Experimental results indicate that the proposed scheme not only achieves lower communication overhead but also maintains competitive computational efficiency compared to existing schemes, all while delivering stronger security assurances.

References

1.
Yu, S.; Park, Y. A Robust Authentication Protocol for Wireless Medical Sensor Networks Using Blockchain and Physically Unclonable Functions. IEEE Internet Things J. 2022, 9, 20214–20228.
2.
Rattal, S.; Badri, A.; Moughit, M.; et al. AI-Driven Optimization of Low-Energy IoT Protocols for Scalable and Efficient Smart Healthcare Systems. IEEE Access 2025, 13, 48401–48415
3.
Oztoprak, A.; Hassanpour, R.; Ozkan, A.; et al. Security Challenges, Mitigation Strategies, and Future Trends in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Review. ACM Comput. Surv. 2024, 57, 1–29.
4.
Kaur, R.; Shahrestani, S.; Ruan, C. Security and Privacy of Wearable Wireless Sensors in Healthcare: A Systematic Review. Comput. Netw. Commun. 2024, 2, 27–52.
5.
Manikandan, R.; Arunprakash, S.; Alsowail, R.A.; et al. A Novel Wireless Sensor Network Deployment for Monitoring and Predicting Abnormal Actions in Medical Environment and Patient Health State. Alex. Eng. J. 2025, 119, 149–167.
6.
He, D.; Cai, Y.; Zhu, S.; et al. A Lightweight Authentication and Key Exchange Protocol With Anonymity for IoT. IEEE Trans. Wirel. Commun. 2023, 22, 7862–7872.
7.
Jiang, Q.; Huang, X.; Zhang, N.; et al. Shake to Communicate: Secure Handshake Acceleration-Based Pairing Mechanism for Wrist Worn Devices. IEEE Internet Things J. 2019, 6, 5618–5630.
8.
Chen, C.M.; Wang, K.H.; Yeh, K.H.; et al. Attacks and Solutions on a Three-Party Password-Based Authenticated Key Exchange Protocol for Wireless Communications. J. Ambient. Intell. Humaniz. Comput. 2019, 10, 3133–3142.
9.
Hassan, W.H. Current Research on Internet of Things (IoT) Security: A Survey. Comput. Netw. 2019, 148, 283–294.
10.
Sangari, A.S.; Manickam, J.M.L. Public Key Cryptosystem Based Security in Wireless Body Area Network. In Proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Circuits, Power and Computing Technologies [ICCPCT-2014], Nagercoil, India, 20–21 March 2014; pp. 1609–1612.
11.
Li, J.; Chen, X.; Li, M.; et al. Secure Deduplication With Efficient and Reliable Convergent Key Management. IEEE Trans.Parallel Distrib. Syst. 2013, 25, 1615–1625.
12.
Li, M.; Lou, W.; Ren, K. Data Security and Privacy in Wireless Body Area Networks. IEEE Wireless Commun. 2010, 17, 51–58.
13.
Shen, J.; Miao, T.; Lai, J.; et al. IMS: An Identity-Based Many-to-Many Subscription Scheme With Efficient Key Management for Wireless Broadcast Systems. IEEE Trans. Serv. Comput. 2022, 15, 1707–1719.
14.
Ding, R.; Zhong, H.; Ma, J.; et al. Lightweight Privacy-Preserving Identity-Based Verifiable IoT-Based Health Storage System. IEEE Internet Things J. 2019, 6, 8393–8405.
15.
Xiong, H.; Hou, Y.; Huang, X.; et al. Heterogeneous Signcryption Scheme From IBC to PKI With Equality Test for WBANs. IEEE Syst. J. 2021, 16, 2391–2400.
16.
Al-Riyami, S.S.; Paterson, K.G. Certificateless Public Key Cryptography. In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on the Theory and Application of Cryptology and Information Security, Taipei, Taiwan, 30 November–4 December 2003; Volume 2894, pp. 452–473.
17.
Yuanbing, W.; Wanrong, L.; Bin, L. An Improved Authentication Protocol for Smart Healthcare System Using Wireless Medical Sensor Network. IEEE Access 2021, 9, 105101–105117.
18.
Ali, R.; Pal, A.K.; Kumari, S.; et al. An Enhanced Three Factor Based Authentication Protocol Using Wireless Medical Sensor Networks for Healthcare Monitoring. J. Ambient. Intell. Humaniz. Comput. 2024, 15, 1165–1186.
19.
Vimal, V.; Raina, V.; AlGhamdi, A.; et al. Certificate-Less Healthcare Signature Scheme for Secure Consumer Technology-Centric Wireless Medical Sensor Devices. IEEE Trans. Consum. Electron. 2025, 71, 2.
20.
Rabie, O.B.J.; Selvarajan, S.; Hasanin, T.; et al. A Full Privacy-Preserving Distributed Batch-Based Certificate-Less Aggregate Signature Authentication Scheme for Healthcare Wearable Wireless Medical Sensor Networks (HWMSNs). Int. J. Inf. Secur. 2024, 23, 51–80.
21.
Nayak, P.; Swapna, G. Security Issues in IoT Applications Using Certificateless Aggregate Signcryption Schemes: An Overview. Internet Things 2023, 21, 100641.
22.
Yang, Y.; Zhang, L.; Zhao, Y.; et al. Privacy-Preserving Aggregation-Authentication Scheme for Safety Warning System in Fog-Cloud Based VANET. IEEE Trans. Inf. Forensic Secur. 2022, 17, 317–331.
23.
Basudan, S.; Lin, X.; Sankaranarayanan, K. A Privacy-Preserving Vehicular Crowdsensing-Based Road Surface Condition Monitoring System Using Fog Computing. IEEE Internet Things J. 2017, 4, 772–782.
24.
Yu, H.; Ren, R. Certificateless Elliptic Curve Aggregate Signcryption Scheme. IEEE Syst. J. 2021, 16, 2347–2354.
25.
Dai, C.; Xu, Z. Pairing-Free Certificateless Aggregate Signcryption Scheme for Vehicular Sensor Networks. IEEE Internet Things J. 2022, 10, 5063–5072.
26.
Ren, R.; Su, J. A Security-Enhanced and Privacy-Preserving Certificateless Aggregate Signcryption Scheme-Based Artificial Neural Network in Wireless Medical Sensor Network. IEEE Sens. J. 2023, 23, 7440–7450.
27.
Wang, Y.; Peng, C.; Jia, X.; et al. Pairing-Free Blockchain-Assisted Certificateless Aggregation Signcryption Scheme for Vanets. IEEE Internet Things J. 2025, 12, 15545–15557.
28.
Chen, D.; Zhou, F.; Liu, Y.; et al. Secure Pairing-Free Certificateless Aggregate Signcryption Scheme for IoT. J. Syst. Archit. 2024, 156, 103268.
29.
Zhang, J.; Shi, C. An Enhanced-Security Certificateless Aggregate Signcryption for Secure Data Transmission in Resource-Constrained Networks. IEEE Internet Things J. 2025, 12, 34086–34101.
30.
Huang, J.L.; Yeh, L.Y.; Chien, H.Y. ABAKA: An Anonymous Batch Authenticated and Key Agreement Scheme for Value-Added Services in Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks. IEEE Trans. Veh. Technol. 2010, 60, 248–262.
31.
Xiong, H.; Wu, Y.; Su, C.; et al. A Secure and Efficient Certificateless Batch Verification Scheme With Invalid Signature Identification for the Internet of Things. J. Inf. Secur. Appl. 2020, 53, 102507.
32.
Hartung, G.; Kaidel, B.; Koch, A.; et al. Fault-Tolerant Aggregate Signatures. In Public-Key Cryptography—PKC 2016, 19th IACR International Conference on Practice and Theory in Public-Key Cryptography, Taipei, Taiwan, 6–9 March 2016; Springer: Berlin, Germany, 2016; Volume 9614, pp. 331–356.
33.
Wang, G.; Cao, Z.; Dong, X.; et al. Improved Fault-Tolerant Aggregate Signatures. Comput. J. 2019, 62, 481–489.
34.
Li, X.; Zhu, R.; Du, D.; et al. Ecc-Based Certificateless Aggregate Signcryption Scheme in Cyber-Physical Power Systems. IEEE Syst. J. 2024, 18, 893–904.
35.
Pointcheval, D.; Stern, J. Security Arguments for Digital Signatures and Blind Signatures. J. Cryptol. 2000, 13, 361–396.

Scilight Press

Author Information

Abstract

Keywords

References

About Scilight

Journals

Publishing Policies

Contact Us