A Proxy Signature-based Re-authentication Scheme for Secure Fast Handoff in Wireless Mesh Networks

Chang-Sha Ma ； Kai-Ping Xue ； Pei-Lin Hong

《International Journal of Network Security》 15卷2期 (2013/03) Pp. 122-132

https://doi.org/10.6633/IJNS.201303.15(2).06

並列摘要

In wireless mesh networks (WMNs), re-authentication guarantees the secure association between a roaming mesh host (MH) and a target mesh access point (MAP) in handoff process. However, due to the complex security mechanisms in re-authentication procedure, handoff delay is significantly extended, making it harder to guarantee the quality of service (QoS) of some mesh applications. In this paper, we propose a proxy signature-based re-authentication scheme for secure fast handoff in WMNs. To begin with, we designate the mesh portal (MPP) as the authenticator of the MH that initially accesses a certain mesh domain. After the successful initial association, the MH is authorized to obtain a temporal proxy delegation of the MPP for the preparation of handoff. Making use of the proxy delegation in handoff case, the MH can efficiently associate with a target MAP connecting to the MPP by performing the proposed re-authentication scheme, in which mutual authentication and pairwise master key (PMK) establishment are performed between the MH and the MAP in a three-way handshake procedure without involving any other parties. Benefiting from the reduced computation operations and message exchanges, the re-authentication delay of the proposed scheme is significantly reduced. Our theoretical analysis demonstrates that the proposed scheme is secure under common security attacks. Besides, the performance evaluation shows that the proposed scheme is more efficient than existing re-authentication schemes in terms of communication overhead, computation cost, and re-authentication delay.

並列關鍵字

Handoff ； re-authentication ； proxy signature ； wireless mesh networks