Verifiable Certificateless Signcryption Scheme for Smart Grids

Smart Grids (SG) are potential replacements for older power grids, capable of adapting and distributing energy based on demand. The recent technological advances and the increased dependence on electrical energy are all factors in the increased need for reliable and efficient energy systems. The complexity of the smart grid arises from using various components and the high requirements for real-time reliable two-way communication. Accordingly, this represents additional security and privacy challenges. In this paper, we proposed a security and efficient certificateless signcryption scheme with flexible verifiability properties using equality test techniques for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) within the SG; abbreviated CL-SG. The proposed scheme provides privacy-preserving, confidentiality, data integrity, verifiability, and reduces the level of trust in the third party (e.g., central unit, substation, data concentrator, etc.). The performance evaluation regarding security and complexity analysis shows that the proposed scheme is secure and efficient with good functionality to be fully adopted and implemented within SG. Also, an extended future work is presented to add more flexibility and security properties and features to the current proposed model.