A Lightweight Authentication Protocol for NFC-enabled Drug Anti-Counterfeiting System

With the increase in sales of counterfeit drug, and its anti-counterfeiting has always been a concern issue. The commonly used anti-counterfeiting method is to paste an image label recording the drug data on the drug package, and the consumers can judge the authenticity of the drug by reading the data recorded on the label. However, the label is easily to be cloned and difficult to play an effective anti-counterfeiting role. Implementing verification of Near Field Communication (NFC) tag by means of authentication protocol provides a new solution for drug anti-counterfeiting. This paper proposes a lightweight authentication protocol for drug anti-counterfeiting system that supports the updating of NFC tags. The proposed protocol uses NFC tag as drug anti-counterfeiting label. If the tag is authenticated by the anti-counterfeiting server, the user gets the real data of the drug. Besides, the identity of NFC tag also be updated to prevent adversaries from obtaining, and using them for counterfeit. The security of proposed protocol is emulated by using the Automated Validation of Internet Security Protocols and Applications (AVISPA) tool. In addition, the protocol's ability to defend against known attacks is analyzed. Finally, the energy consumption of the protocol is evaluated.