Security Instantiation for Mobile Networks

Sandeep S. Kulkarni, Mohamed G. Gouda and Anish Arora\\

Abstract

In this paper, we focus our attention on the problem of assigning initial secrets to users in a mobile system so that they can use those secrets to ensure authentication and privacy during their communication. initial secrets to users in a mobile system so that they can use those secrets to ensure authentication and privacy during their communication. We present a protocol that maintains $O(\sqrt{n})$ secrets per user where $n$ is the number of users in the system. We show that our secret distribution protocol suffices for privacy and authentication as well as secure multihop communication between two users. Furthermore, we note that th e number of secrets maintained in this protocol is within a constant factor of the optimal solution for this problem. For the case where user capabil ity prevents them from maintaining the necessary secrets, we propose a probabilistic protocol that maintains $O(log \ n)$ secrets per user. In this protocol, the probability of security compromise between two users is inversely proportional to the number of secrets they maintain.

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