An authentication model for multilevel security domains

A large network is composed of many autonomous security domains. Based on the definition of security domain, a lattice model of security domains is described. Subsequently, a model of multilevel security domains combined with the multilevel security is derived. Another important concept tied up with multilevel security domains is authentication. According to the trust relationships between different security domains, an authentication architecture and two authentication protocols suitable for multilevel security domains are proposed in this paper. At last, the authentication protocol is formally analyzed with the aid of the BAN logic.