2nd International IEEE Conference on Communication System Software and Middleware

Research Article

Secure Host Identity Delegation for Mobility

  • @INPROCEEDINGS{10.1109/COMSWA.2007.382596,
        author={Stephen Herbom and Andreas  Huber and Roksana Boreli and Aruna Seneviratne},
        title={Secure Host Identity Delegation for Mobility},
        proceedings={2nd International IEEE Conference on Communication System Software and Middleware},
        publisher={IEEE},
        proceedings_a={COMSWARE},
        year={2007},
        month={7},
        keywords={Australia  Data security  Hip  Personal area networks  Pervasive computing  Protocols  Prototypes  Relays  Signal processing  Software prototyping},
        doi={10.1109/COMSWA.2007.382596}
    }
    
  • Stephen Herbom
    Andreas Huber
    Roksana Boreli
    Aruna Seneviratne
    Year: 2007
    Secure Host Identity Delegation for Mobility
    COMSWARE
    IEEE
    DOI: 10.1109/COMSWA.2007.382596
Stephen Herbom1,*, Andreas Huber2,*, Roksana Boreli2,*, Aruna Seneviratne2,*
  • 1: Networking and Pervasive Computing National ICT Australia, Eveleigh, Sydney, Australia
  • 2: Networking and Pervasive Computing National ICT Australia Eveleigh, Sydney, Australia
*Contact email: stephen.herbom@nicta.com.au, andreas.huber@nicta.com.au, roksana.boreli@nicta.com.au, aruna.seneviratne@nicta.com.au

Abstract

We develop a scheme for host identity delegation based on the Host Identity Protocol (HIP). We show how this scheme can be applied to enable the movement of communication sessions between devices e.g. in a Personal Area Network (PAN), or to securely and seamlessly insert any number of service proxies in between session endpoints e.g. to adapt data to suit different devices in a PAN. Identities are securely delegated by relaying HIP signalling messages to the device that owns the private key. This avoids security issues caused by dissemination of private keys. This also ensures that delegated endpoint identities are instantly and permanently revocable by the original device which remains in full control of the private key used to authorize use of the identity. We show that the delegation process introduces minimal additional signalling, and present results of evaluation of a prototype which show the scheme results in no detriment to the performance of HIP.