Authenticated key exchange for wireless security

Authenticated key exchange (AKE) protocols are designed to allow mutual authentication and generation of a cryptographically-secure session key. We revisit the conventional AKE protocols employed in IEEE 802.1x for wireless security considering the following situation: (1) a user has some insecure devices with built-in memory capacity; (2) the counterpart server is not perfectly secure; (3) neither PKI (public key infrastructure) nor TRM (tamper-resistant module) is available. In addition, the paper introduces a new kind of AKE protocol, which is secure against an active attacker in the above-mentioned situation, in order to enhance the overall security level and usability of passwords. For authenticity, the user´s password is combined with an additional secret stored on insecure mobile devices. Nevertheless, the user remembers only one relatively short password while maintaining its connections with a variety of different servers.