Security on the Move: Indirect Authentication using Kerberos

Even as mobile computing and network computing are gaining momentum, Internet security is sharing the spotlight. Security and authentication on open networks is already a difficult problem, even without the additional risks posed by wireless media and the additional software constraints imposed by mobile computing devices with capabilities more modest than those of full-blown laptops. We describe an implemented indirect protocol called Charon, which provides authentication and secure communication to clients by leveraging the strong protocol and deployed infrastructure of Kerberos IV. Charon consists of a portable proxy module that runs as untrusted, unprivileged code, and an extremely lightweight client module that runs quite efficiently even on our Sony MagicLink PDA. This partitioning of functionality makes Charon attractive for ISP's and network computing as well as existing mobile devices. Charon's security is at least as strong as that of Kerberos--the user's pass...

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1996
• Where: MOBICOM
• Authors: Armando Fox, Steven D. Gribble
• Keywords: Communications, MOBICOM 1996, Mobile Computing, Mobile Device, Protocol Called Charon