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Fig. 2. Components of WBAN
B. System Model
The proposed scheme consists of biometric sensors (BSi), per-
sonal devices (PDi), and an authentication server (AS). The
BSi can collect vital signals from the human body, which have
two types: normal and abnormal. A normal signal is sent
to the PDi every 12 hours, whereas any abnormal signal is
sent immediately. This purpose is to conserve the sensor’s
energy, which is only used in critical situations. The per-
sonal device submits a complete report of the patient’s health
condition to the authentication server on the last day. This
report contains the details of the patient’s health status, such
as the duration of his/her stable state, the number of critical
incidents he/she experienced, and the number of times his/her
medical practitioner was contacted. This report is carried out
for archiving and the future study of the patient’s condition.
In the event of an abnormal signal, the PDi either notifies the
patient of his/her health condition if the patient is in a state
of consciousness or sends information directly to the server
so that the necessary action can be carried out. The AS sends
the details of the patient’s condition to the concerned people,
such as his/her doctor and other practitioners responsible for
the patient. The PDi includes the health institution authority’s
application, through which the user is logged in. This applica-
tion receives the sensor’s signals, interprets them, and sends a
warning message on the phone screen to the people concerned
as well as a voice alert to notify the user. Additionally, all
components exchange data securely based on strong security
features such as mutual authentication, key management, and
password anonymity.
C. Security Issues in A WBAN Environment
As the components of WBAN (Si, PDi, and AS) exist in an
unattended environment, the various ways an attacker can
penetrate the network must be studied [7]. Below are some
possible malicious attacks on WBAN components [18]:
• MITM Attack: An attacker has many attempts to dis-
connect the communication channel between a rightful
patient (PDi) and the remote server (AS) by embody-
ing a rightful patient or server during a study attack’s
Rashid et al.
method.
• DoS Attack: A DoS attack is a type of malicious attack
that aims to disrupt the services provided by the server
by flooding the network with an inundation of fake
login requests.
• Stolen Personal Device: An adversary has the ability to
reproduce the user (PDi)-sensitive data and then apply
this information to impersonate a genuine patient to
destroy the system.
• Forged Sensor: The main function of this attack com-
prises a fake sensor annoying to submit unfitting infor-
mation using the patient’s identity. It is hazardous to
the health of the patient.
D. Security Requirements
Several security requirements are measured throughout the
design progression of all authentication schemes [7, 8, 9, 10,
11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]:
• Mutual Authentication: The main system components
of WBAN should authenticate one another’s identities
as a first step and then exchange data as a second step
to prevent the risks of attackers.
• User Anonymity: In the login and authentication phases,
any proposed scheme should avoid eavesdropping or
sniffing the exchanging information between compo-
nents by applying this feature to their identities.
• Confidentiality: Sensitive patient information must be
protected from attackers by using encryption techniques
for all communication messages between system par-
ties.
• Availability: The patient needs to use/access the re-
sources of WBAN anytime and anywhere.
• Forward Secrecy: A session key allows the main parties
to use WBAN’s system and should only be used once
to access the scheme.
III. THE PROPOSED SCHEME
This scheme has four main phases: setup, registration, au-
thentication, and healthcare. The components of the proposed
schemes are patient (P), Health Care Center (HCC), Authenti-
cation Server (AS), Personal Device (PDi), and sensors (S).
The main difference between a HCC and AS in a WBAN is
that the former is responsible for establishing trust between en-
tities, while the latter is responsible for verifying the identity
of devices.