Identity-based Hierarchical Access Authentication in Mobile IPv6 Networks

Access authentication is very important for deploying mobile IPv6 networks. In this paper, we design a two-level hierarchical identity-based signature scheme, based on which we propose a new hierarchical authentication scheme for mobile IPv6 networks. Our solution adopts multi-level network access identifier (NAI) as public key, which simplifies key management in wireless mobile environment. The handover procedure integrating authentication is also cut down by our hierarchical solution. And our solution accomplishes mutual authentication between terminal and network. We propose the handover latency analytical model to evaluate handover latency. The results show that our solution is more efficient than others, especially when a terminal is far away from its home domain and moves frequently. Security analysis shows that the proposed scheme is sufficient for privacy and unforgeability. An extended version for access authentication in multi-hierarchical mobile IPv6 networks is discussed.