Identity-based cryptography for grid security

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The majority of current security architectures for grid systems use public key infrastructure (PKI) to authenticate identities of grid members and to secure resource allocation to these members. Identity-based cryptography (IBC) has some attractive properties that seem to align well with the demands of grid computing. This paper presents a comprehensive investigation into the use of identity-based techniques to provide an alternative grid security architecture. We propose a customised identity-based key agreement protocol, which fits nicely with the grid security infrastructure (GSI). We also present a delegation protocol, which is simpler and more efficient than existing delegation methods. Our study shows that properties of IBC can be exploited to provide grid security services in a more natural and clean way than more conventional public key cryptosystems, such as RSA.