RETRACTED ARTICLE: Lightweight multi-level authentication scheme for secured data transmission in IoT-Fog context

The IoT-sensed data is normally processed by Cloud Servers (CSs), but to reduce the cloud load and to avert network bandwidth wastage, Fog Computing (FC) is used. FC storages are LAN-based and they are not permanent. To store the data permanently, FNs (Fog Node) and IoT devices are making use of CSs. In the current scenario, we have IoT devices, FNs, and CSs. To process IoT data more efficiently, Multi-level FC architecture is suggested where normally, different security schemes are used at different information levels. Sometimes, the middle layer device has two varying security schemes, one to process lower-level data, and another to communicate the results with higher-level devices. Having multiple security algorithms make it more difficult to deploy any application, while the high complexity because of the multiple security schemes makes the system more vulnerable. Here, one unique lightweight security scheme is suggested that can single-handedly satisfy all the levels of security with different security levels. The scheme is based on Logical operations and it is multi-keyed logic. The proposed scheme makes sure that it has a lower time and space complexity to support IoT devices. In addition to that, the scheme has varied key-length features, which makes it capable to secure higher-level data at higher-level devices like servers. In designing, different HMACs, Op_codes, and chaining logic are used. The proposed mechanism is also analogized with other existing techniques and it is discovered to be superior to the others. Furthermore, it is tested against various attacks to prevent any vulnerabilities from exploitations. The given security scheme is lightweight and it provides security assurance in data transmission in the IoT-Fog, Fog to multi-Fog, and Fog to Cloud end.