A Lightweight Node Verification and Protection Strategy for Edge Computing

To alleviate the burden on the core network, edge computing has rapidly advanced to support distributed computing. However, as sensitive information is delegated to the edge layer closer to endpoints, the privacy protection challenges faced by edge nodes intensify while striving to deliver high-quality services. Existing studies predominantly rely on various encryption algorithms to safeguard privacy information, such as identity, location, and offloading routes privacy. Unfortunately, these approaches exhibit high overhead and often neglect the potential maliciousness of the nodes themselves. To address these issues, this paper introduces a lightweight edge node verification and protection strategy. This strategy not only verifies the reliability of edge nodes but also enables anonymized uploading of private information. Numerical simulation results demonstrate the superiority of this strategy over existing schemes, showcasing reduced computational overhead while achieving enhanced protection.