An authentication scheme for IEEE 802.11s mesh networks relying on Sakai-Kasahara ID-Based Cryptographic algorithms

Abstract

Nowadays authentication in Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) refers to the 802.1X authentication methods or a Preshared key authentication, and makes use of certifcates or shared secrets. In wireless environments, the management of certifcates is a cumbersome task as certifcates require deploying a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) and Certifcation Authorities (CA). They also require defning a certifcate management policy to control the generation, transmission and revocation of certifcates. During the last decade, ID-Based Cryptography (IBC) appeared as a good alternative to PKI. IBC proposes to derive the public key from the node's identity directly thanks to the use of a Private Key Generator (PKG). In this article, we present an authentication method relying on an ID-Based signature and encryption schemes that use the Sakai-Kasahara key construction. The resulted authentication scheme is suitable to IEEE 802.11s mesh networks and resistant to the key escrow attack.