Authentication in Internet of Things, protocols, attacks, and open issues: a systematic literature review

Internet of Things (IoT) as an emerging technology is based on the idea that smart things can connect to the Internet and exchange the collected data in a peer-to-peer paradigm. Due to its inherent features, IoT can be utilized in real-world scenarios and its expansion can improve human well-being. Internet of things is applied quite closely to humans and transmits serious information such as healthcare information, financial data, and private information through an insecure communication platform. Since almost all tasks are performed with minimal human intervention, and adversary may deploy its nodes among other legitimate elements of IoT, providing an effective mutual authentication is vital. In this Systematic Literature Review, authentication of IoT and its literature are reviewed systematically. In particular, it has endeavored that the collected literature covers the papers conducted from 2018 to 2022. Moreover, this study seeks to provide a comprehensive answer to six important Research Questions in the context of authentication of IoT that often engage the minds of scholars. It is hoped that this survey will be an effective guide for future research by addressing the relevant challenges, analyzing open issues, and providing future research directions.