An ICN-Based Secure Task Cooperation in Challenging Wireless Edge Networks

Task cooperation emerges as a efficacious strategy for the execution of intricate tasks within the context of challenging wireless edge networks characterized by limited resources and intermittent infrastructure connections. Presently, TCP/IP-based solutions encounter issues related to suboptimal utilization of network resources and a substantial dependency on infrastructure connections. In light of this, Information-Centric Networking (ICN) has surfaced as a promising architectural paradigm aimed at mitigating these challenges. In ICN-based task cooperation, the data reuse characteristic of ICN enhances the efficiency of network resource utilization. However, this also introduces plausible security vulnerabilities to the reused data, encompassing eavesdropping attacks and unauthorized access attacks. In this paper, we propose an ICN-based secure task cooperation scheme to mitigate the above threats without compromising the efficiency of task execution. We present the task cooperation model that quantifies the cost of securing data reuse in task execution. We also introduce a specific naming convention to support the acquisition of collaborative task requests and keys related to the task cooperation. Besides, we introduce a novel design for an enhanced name-based access control scheme that ensure both data confidentiality and access control in collaborative tasks accessed by the same sub-policy, streamlining the encryption process for content keys. Security analysis and experimental results demonstrate that our scheme effectively safeguards the security of data reuse. Furthermore, compared to existing schemes, our scheme incurs lower cost associated with computation and security.