A Security Enhancement and Proof for Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA)

In this work, we consider Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA), a popular client-server Key Exchange (KE) protocol, commonly used in wireless standards (e.g., UMTS), and widely considered for new applications. We discuss natural potential usage scenarios for AKA, attract attention to subtle vulnerabilities, propose a simple and efficient AKA enhancement, and provide its formal proof of security. The vulnerabilities arise due to the fact that AKA is not a secure KE in the standard cryptographic sense, since Client C does not contribute randomness to the session key. We argue that AKA remains secure in current deployments where C is an entity controlled by a single tamperresistant User Identity Module (UIM). However, we also show that AKA is insecure if several Client’s devices/UIMs share his identity and key. We show practical applicability and efficiency benefits of such multi-UIM scenarios. As our main contribution, we adapt AKA for this setting, with only the minimal changes, wh...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: SCN
• Authors: Vladimir Kolesnikov
• Keywords: AKA Security Heuristics, Communications, Current Deployment, Efficient Aka Enhancement, SCN 2010