Enhancing the Security: A Lightweight Authentication and Key Agreement Protocol for Smart Medical Services in the IoHT

The Internet of Things (IoT) has witnessed significant growth with advancements in Internet and wireless technologies. In the medical field, the Internet of Health Things (IoHT) has emerged as an extension of the IoT, enabling the exchange of remote data and real-time monitoring of patients’ health conditions. Through the IoHT, doctors can promptly provide diagnoses and treatment for patients. As patient data are transmitted over public channels, security issues may arise, necessitating security mechanisms. Recently, Amintoosi et al. proposed an authentication protocol for smart medical services in the IoHT. However, their protocol exhibited security weaknesses, including vulnerabilities to privileged insider attacks. To address the security concerns, we propose an enhanced authentication and key agreement protocol. The security of our protocol is rigorously analyzed using the Real-Or-Random model, informal security analysis, and the AVISPA tool. Finally, the results of our analysis demonstrate that our proposed protocol ensures sufficient security while maintaining a performance level similar to existing protocols.