Secure Service Discovery

Abstract

In broadband wireless networks, mobile devices will be equipped to directly share resources using service discovery mechanisms without relying upon centralized servers or infrastructure support. The network environment will frequently be ad hoc or will cross administrative boundaries. There are many challenges to enabling secure and private service discovery in these environments including the dynamic population of participants, the lack of a universal trust mechanism, and the limited capabilities of the devices. To ensure secure service discovery while addressing privacy issues, trust-based models are inevitable. We survey secure service discovery in the broadband wireless environment. We include case studies of two protocols that include a trust mechanism, and we summarize future research directions.