Efficient Algorithms for Pairing-Based Cryptosystems
CRYPTO '02 Proceedings of the 22nd Annual International Cryptology Conference on Advances in Cryptology
Responding to Security Issues in WiMAX Networks
IT Professional
GKDA: a group-based key distribution algorithm for WiMAX MBS security
PCM'06 Proceedings of the 7th Pacific Rim conference on Advances in Multimedia Information Processing
WiMAX networks: from access to service platform
IEEE Network: The Magazine of Global Internetworking
Efficient hierarchical SIP mobility management for WiMAX networks
Computers & Mathematics with Applications
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IEEE 802.16 technology also well known as WiMax is poised to deliver the next step in the wireless evolution. This is further fostered by the 802.16e specification which, amongst other things, introduces support for mobility. The Multicast/Broadcast Service (MBS) is also an integral part of 802.16e destined to deliver next generation services to subscribers. In this paper we concentrate on the Multicast and Broadcast Rekeying Algorithm (MBRA) of 802.16e. This algorithm has been recently criticized for various vulnerabilities and security inefficiencies, as its designers are trying to balance wisely between performance and security. After surveying related work, we extensively discuss MBRA security issues and propose the use of a novel asymmetric group key agreement protocol based on the work in Wu et al. (2009) [3]. Our scheme guarantees secure delivery of keys to all the members of a given group and mandates rekeying upon join and leave events. It can prevent insider attacks since only the Base Station possesses a secret encryption key while all other members in the network acquire the transmitted data by using their secret decryption keys. We compare our scheme with related work and demonstrate that although heavier in terms of computing costs, it compensates when scalability and security come to the foreground.