Lightweight network authentication for resource constrained devices via mergeable stateful signatures

A time-based one-time password(TOTP) system comprising:

• a computer hardware-implemented architecture, platform or interface configured/programmed to periodically generate unique time-limited passwords for-two factor authentication that allows an internet of things (IoT) device to authenticate itself to a server;
• wherein two or more message/signature pairs are merged by the computer-implemented architecture to obtain a new message/signature pair which is a process that is invertible and also a public, so it does not require knowledge of a secret key, which allows a client to authenticate itself to a single server multiple times spread over different transactions and times.

A method of reducing authentication latency and energy consumption for a time-based one-time password(TOTP) system implementation on IoT devices, the method comprising:

• providing an internet of things (IoT) communication protocol with a digital signature step that allows the IoT devices to precompute and store data prior to communication which in turn allows the device to produce and communicate unique authenticated messages;
• wherein two or more message/signature pairs are merged by the IoT communication protocol to obtain a new message/signature pair, said digital signature method being invertible and also a public operation, so it does not require knowledge of a secret key, which allows a client to authenticate itself to a single server multiple times spread over different transactions and times.