Secure Combination of XML Signature Application with Message Aggregation in Multicast Settings

The similarity-based aggregation of XML documents is a proven method for reducing network traffic. However, when used in conjunction with XML security standards, a lot of pitfalls, but also optimization potentials exist. In this paper, we investigate these issues, showing how to exploit similarity-based aggregation for rapid distribution of digitally signed XML data. Using our own implementation in two different experimental settings, we provide both a thorough evaluation and a security proof for our approach. By this we prove both feasibility and security, and we illustrate how to achieve a network traffic reduction of up to 82% in total.