Enhanced authentication and key exchange for end to end security in mobile commerce using wireless public key infrastructure

Purpose The purpose of the study is to develop a secure, efficient, and enhanced user authentication mechanism to achieve reliable and authenticated connection. In online transactions, users and resources are located at different places, and the sensitive information is to be protected and transferred using the suitable, reliable mechanism. Design/methodology/approach One of the latest approach to handle the requirement is by a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) or its variant Wireless Public Key Infrastructure (WPKI). Fundamental management techniques are required to be very secure and vital since they are one of the points of attack in public key cryptosystem. Entity authentication and key agreement (AKA) is a critical cryptographic problem in wireless communication, where a mutual entity authentication plays a vital role in the establishment of the secure and authentic connection. This paper proposes an efficient and enhanced AKA scheme (EAKA) with the end-to-end security and verifies the proposed system for protection using automated validation of internet security protocols and applications. An efficient way for the implementation of an enhanced version of the protocol is proposed using a lattice-based cryptographic algorithm. Findings The time consumed for the proposed research work shows that it is practical and acceptable. Originality/value The proposed research work is an efficient and enhanced user authentication mechanism.