The Resurrecting Duckling: security issues for ubiquitous computing

Imagine the future: hundreds of embedded computers per person, all cooperating via ad hoc wireless networks. What will the security implications be? Peer-to-peer and ubiquitous computing systems involve many principals, but their network connectivity is intermittent and not guaranteed. Traditional approaches to authentication, from Kerberos to public-key certificates, are therefore unworkable, because they rely on online connectivity to an authentication or revocation server. The paper considers new solutions. It discusses the Resurrecting Duckling security policy model. The traditional taxonomy of security threats identifies three main classes which are considered: confidentiality, integrity or availability