<p>Wireless sensor networks (WSNs), comprising small, wirelessly interconnected sensor nodes placed in various environments, are crucial for real-time data collection and transmission in Internet of Things (IoT) applications. After forming autonomously, the network gathers information from these nodes for monitoring and control. However, as these nodes rely on wireless communication, they are susceptible to various vulnerabilities, such as man-in-the-middle attacks, enabling attackers to eavesdrop or intercept data. Therefore, user-authentication and key-agreement schemes are crucial for WSNs. This study identifies vulnerabilities in WSNs outlined by Chen <i>et al.</i> and proposes a novel authentication scheme to address them. Its primary contributions include developing a robust authentication scheme to mitigate these vulnerabilities and cryptanalysis-based demonstration of its robustness to various attacks. We conducted a comprehensive performance analysis, comparing the computational costs and communication overheads of our scheme with those of existing ones. The results demonstrate that our scheme outperforms comparable schemes, both quantitatively and qualitatively, in terms of security capabilities. Additionally, an NS-3 simulation validated its efficiency, wherein its throughput and authentication times were investigated, further supporting its practical applicability within real-world IoT environments.</p>