A Tutorial on Next Generation Heterogeneous IoT Networks and Node Authentication

The extreme heterogeneity in Internet of Things (IoT) networks impacts the network performance, application service quality, and user experience, and has opened many vistas for adversaries to compromise and eventually knock down the networks. The concern for network security and network reliability will further increase in next generation networks (NGNs) such as 5G-IoT by many folds and requires a new level of security approaches. The first line of defense to secure network and its resources is node authentication. However, we note that without alleviating heterogeneity, NGNs cannot fully provide network security or meet the network performance demands. Further, a granular level of autonomy cannot be provided in NGNs, which impacts the IoT node authentication. This makes the authentication issue in heterogeneous networks a more challenging problem. In this article, we first highlight the heterogeneous NGN concept, its impact (particularly on IoT node authentication), and commonly used authentication protocols and industry standards. We also emphasize the need for enhancing NGNs' security by a novel multi-factor approach that also addresses heterogeneity. Unique research challenges and potential opportunities are highlighted.