A Lightweight and Secure Certificateless Encryption Scheme for Smart City IoT Security

A Lightweight and Secure Certificateless Encryption Scheme for Smart City IoT Security | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article A Lightweight and Secure Certificateless Encryption Scheme for Smart City IoT Security Guo Hongzhi, Li Xiangrong, Qin Haowen This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6076732/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 05 Jun, 2025 Read the published version in Discover Computing → Version 1 posted 17 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract The rapid deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) in smart cities urgently demands lightweight encryption schemes to address critical security vulnerabilities in resource-constrained environments. Traditional certificateless encryption schemes suffer from public key replacement attacks and risks of partial key leakage caused by compromised private key generators. To overcome these challenges, this paper proposes a lightweight and secure certificateless encryption scheme. The proposed scheme integrates a Schnorr signature mechanism incorporating user identifiers, secret values, and public keys. Under the standard model, the scheme demonstrates resistance against adaptive chosen ciphertext attacks (CCA2) from both Type I adversaries (capable of replacing public keys) and Type II adversaries (possessing the system master key). Performance evaluation results indicate that the scheme maintains high security while achieving efficient encryption performance and reliable public key verification, making it particularly suitable for secure communication in IoT devices within smart city applications. Certificateless encryption Schnorr signature public key verification Internet of Things Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 05 Jun, 2025 Read the published version in Discover Computing → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Accepted 23 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 14 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 13 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 May, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 12 May, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 12 May, 2025 Reviews received at journal 29 Apr, 2025 Reviews received at journal 27 Apr, 2025 Reviews received at journal 26 Apr, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 26 Apr, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Apr, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Apr, 2025 Reviews received at journal 21 Apr, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 21 Apr, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 21 Apr, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 18 Apr, 2025 First submitted to journal 16 Apr, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6076732","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":445711083,"identity":"4a1c5bc4-d01f-46fd-8e1b-8bc146c6d4cd","order_by":0,"name":"Guo Hongzhi","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABB0lEQVRIie2RMWuDQBTH3xFIF0m2ciIkX+FESFMq5qucCE79DEUp3BT3ln4Jx46RA10Ou1oc6trNbLr1jrZLMdYxkPvB+/N4vB/c4wA0mjOEqEARlmmo1pU1iwAOkxUaAszRJAV+Ff6/cnOV8M/+deulRZId++5tRT7iuGkFrJfXw97tvgy3psBBKsrAMmjtkBw92k8V2M8vdPhh1f2G2AwHsiEW0NpPc8QsowVK6hHF/1acvqPlJMVpMoY95WKDHn6UakQRYoNihqkpyvDOCAPHzH15i8Cnbyn2zrFnD7tFkfD3zvVWC86zps3d9dIaViRz9Y9+9GeKT60rZq2M3diGRqPRXDhf5mRoT3GSYSwAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"Beijing Academy of Science and Technology","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Guo","middleName":"","lastName":"Hongzhi","suffix":""},{"id":445711084,"identity":"f53f4403-77c0-4ce2-bc1a-6e07083a45cf","order_by":1,"name":"Li Xiangrong","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Beijing University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Li","middleName":"","lastName":"Xiangrong","suffix":""},{"id":445711085,"identity":"d0bd63a1-c549-48e0-bbf7-ed0e3238e9bb","order_by":2,"name":"Qin Haowen","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Beijing University of Technology","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Qin","middleName":"","lastName":"Haowen","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-02-21 06:53:13","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6076732/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6076732/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s10791-025-09626-x","type":"published","date":"2025-06-05T15:57:28+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":84242577,"identity":"6016e4b9-b71d-4b6c-84b3-2a5f19297d1e","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-09 16:09:46","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":5745473,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"ALightweightandSecureCertificatelessEncryptionSchemeforSmartCityIoTSecurity3.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6076732/v1_covered_6d1ef5ee-39ba-4723-8033-e53ab7947d16.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"A Lightweight and Secure Certificateless Encryption Scheme for Smart City IoT Security","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"discover-computing","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"Learn more about [Discover Computing](https://link.springer.com/journal/10791)","snPcode":"10791","submissionUrl":"https://submission.springernature.com/new-submission/10791/3","title":"Discover Computing","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Discover Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Certificateless encryption, Schnorr signature, public key verification, Internet of Things","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6076732/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6076732/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eThe rapid deployment of Internet of Things (IoT) in smart cities urgently demands lightweight encryption schemes to address critical security vulnerabilities in resource-constrained environments. 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