In order to remedy the security weaknesses of a robust user authentication framework for wireless sensor networks, an enhanced user authentication framework is presented. The enhanced scheme requires proof of the possession of both a password and a smart card, and provides more security guarantees in two aspects: 1) it addresses the untraceability property so that any third party accessing the communication channel cannot link two authentication sessions originated from the same user, and 2) the use of a smart card prevents offline attacks to guess passwords. The security and efficiency analyses indicate that our enhanced scheme provides the highest level of security at reasonable computational costs. Therefore, it is a practical authentication scheme with attractive security features for wireless sensor networks.
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