Secure architecture for multicasting on active virtual private

Security is a crucial aspect in multicasting, the lack of which is currently preventing the large-scale deployment of group-oriented applications. Traditional IP multicast does not provide a secure framework for authentication, integrity and privacy for multicast sessions. Virtual private networks (VPNs) offer an economic alternative to leased lines and are becoming widely adopted by small and medium enterprises for building private networks. While VPNs offer secure communications, they need efficient mechanisms to deploy multicasting applications. A relatively new networking paradigm that inserts intelligence within the network, namely active networking, has shown interesting results for deploying an adaptable multicast framework. The primary objective of this paper is to present the design of a secure active multicast (SAM) architecture for VPNs. The SAM architecture proposes four different modules to offer a comprehensive secure multicasting solution: group management, authentication, secure packet delivery and stream handling. We present an implementation of the architecture on packet language for active networks (PLAN), a platform for active networks.