Improving authentication function in wireless mobile multicast communications

Abstract

In this paper a distributed authentication scheme based on independent session key per access network (HOISKA) is proposed for the decentralized multi-service group key management scheme in a wireless multicast environment. It enables a handover user Mi involved in multiple multicast service subscriptions to establish the long term credential from the trusted authentication server (As) during initial registration. The Mi then securely reuses the long term credential established to derive unique session keys per access network during handover across diverse access networks. The distributed nature HOISKA enables offloading the authentication function to the area network controllers (AKDs) such that As does not participate during handover authentication signalling. This simplifies handover by reducing handover exchange signalling constituting to less handover delays. Two scenarios for HOISKA, initial handover access (IAA) and Handover Access authentication (HAA) are presented then analyzed using the delay analytical model. The HOISKA model proves efficacy in both scenarios by inducing less transmission delays with comparable level of security compared to the widely deployed authentication scheme.