Improving Efficiency of Authenticated OpenFlow Handshake Using Coprocessors

In most existing research into the Software Defined Internet of Things (SDIoT), IoT devices are reprogramed and controlled using software. Security mechanisms are designed to ensure that the IoT devices can be legally reprogrammed. However, the crypto algorithms involved in this process may unnecessarily overburden the IoT devices. In this paper, we describe a hardware integrated SDIoT system which can lighten the computational burden of the IoT devices. A protocol, called Authenticated OpenFlow Handshake is proposed to enhance the security and performance of the handshake process in an SDIoT system, and an Elliptical Curves Cryptography (ECC) chip can be employed to accelerate the signature process in the proposed protocol. A series of experiments are carried out with the results showing that using this type of hardware chip can significantly reduce the runtime of the protocol.