Fully self-organized peer-to-peer key management for mobile ad hoc networks

Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs) offer communication over a shared wireless channel without any pre-existing infrastructure. Forming peer-to-peer security associations in MANETs is more challenging than in conventional networks due to the lack of central authority. The main contribution of this paper is a low complexity key management scheme that is suitable for fully self-organized MANETs. The proposed peer-to-peer key management scheme uses subordinate public keys and crypto-based identifiers to eliminate any form of trusted third party. Nodes can create, disseminate and revocate their own keying material with low communication and computational overhead. We show how localized certificate exchanges on the network layer can be used to break the routing-security interdependence cycle without degrading the performance of the network. Our proposed solution is also generic since it can be deployed in any “open” mobile wireless network with symmetric or asymmetric encryption. Catego...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 2005
• Where: WS
• Authors: Johann van der Merwe, Dawoud S. Dawoud, Stephen McDonald
• Keywords: Key Management, Mobile Ad Hoc Networks, Peer-to-peer Key Management, WS 2005