ENTITY BIDIRECTIONAL-IDENTIFICATION METHOD FOR SUPPORTING FAST HANDOFF

• US 20110078438A1
• Filed: 05/27/2009
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 05/29/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: China Iwncomm Co., Ltd
• Original Assignee: China Iwncomm Co., Ltd
• Inventors: Tie, Manxia, Cao, Jun, Huang, Zhenhai, Lai, Xiaolong
• Granted Patent: US 8,392,710 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 713/155
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0869 for achieving mutual authentication cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for mutual authentication H04L9/3273
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/0844 with user authentication or key authentication, e.g. ElGamal, MTI, MQV-Menezes-Qu-Vanstone protocol or Diffie-Hellman protocols using implicitly-certified keys
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3213 using tickets or tokens, e.g. Kerberos network architectures or network communication protocols for entities authentication using tickets in a packet data network H04L63/0807
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3263 involving certificates, e.g. public key certificate [PKC] or attribute certificate [AC]; Public key infrastructure [PKI] arrangements network architectures or network communication protocols for supporting authentication of entities using certificates in a packet data network H04L63/0823
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/3273 for mutual authentication network architectures or network communication protocols for achieving mutual authentication in a packet data network H04L63/0869
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/062 Pre-authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 using certificates or pre-shared keys

Abstract

An entity bidirectional-identification method for supporting fast handoff involves three security elements, which includes two identification elements A and B and a trusted third party (TP). All identification entities of a same element share a public key certification or own a same public key. When any identification entity in identification element A and any identification entity in identification element B need to identify each other, if identification protocol has never been operated between the two identification elements that they belong to respectively, the whole identification protocol process will be operated; otherwise, interaction of identification protocol will be acted only between the two identification entities. Application of the present invention not only centralizes management of public key and simplifies protocol operation condition, but also utilizes the concept of security domain so as to reduce management complexity of public key, shorten identification time and satisfy fast handoff requirements on the premises of guaranteeing security characteristics such as one key for every pair of identification entities, one secret key for every identification and forward secrecy.

Claims

1. A mutual entity authentication method supporting rapid handoff, the method involving three security elements comprising two authentication elements A and B and a Trusted third Party TP, wherein the trusted third party TP is a trusted third party of the authentication elements A and B;

the authentication element A comprises n authentication entities A1, A2, . . . , An, and the authentication element B comprises m authentication entities B1, B2, . . . , Bm, among which synchronization information is provided; and

all of the authentication entities in the same authentication element share one public key certificate or possess one public key, and for any pair of authentication entities Ai (i=1, 2, . . . , n) and Bj (j=1, 2, . . . , m), the authentication method comprises the steps of;

1) transmitting, by the authentication entity Bj, an authentication activation message INI_Bj to the authentication entity Ai, wherein

INI_Bj=R_Bj∥

ID_B∥

Text1, wherein R_Bj denotes a random number generated by the authentication entity Bj, ID_B denotes an identifier of the authentication element B, and Text1 denotes a first optional text;

2) transmitting, by the authentication entity Ai, an access authentication request message AREQ_Ai to the authentication entity Bj upon reception of the authentication activation message INI_Bj, wherein

AREQ_Ai=R_Bj∥

R_Ai∥

ID_A∥

Text2∥

TokenAB

TokenAB=sS_A(R_Bj∥

R_Ai∥

ID_AText2), wherein R_Ai denotes a random number generated by the authentication entity Ai, ID_A denotes an identifier of the authentication element A, Text2 denotes a second optional text, TokenAB denotes a token transmitted from the authentication entity Ai to the authentication entity Bj, and sS_A denotes a signature of the authentication element A;

3) on receiving the access authentication request message AREQ_Ai, verifying, by the authentication entity Bj, R_Bj in AREQ_Ai and R_Bj in INI_Bj for consistency, and if R_Bj in AREQ_Ai is consistent with R_Bj in INI_Bj, searching, by the authentication entity Bj, for a locally stored authentication result of the authentication element A;

if there is stored an authentication result of the authentication element A, going to step

     4);

4) transmitting, by the authentication entity Bj, an access authentication response message ARES_Bj to the authentication entity Ai, and calculating a shared master key between the authentication entities Ai and Bj, wherein

ARES_Bj=IRES_TP∥

R_Ai∥

Text5∥

TokenBA

TokenBA=sS_B(TokenAB∥

R_Bj∥

Text5), wherein Text5 denotes a fifth optional text, IRES_TP denotes an identity authentication response message stored locally at the authentication entity Bj which comprises the authentication result of the authentication element A, TokenBA denotes a token transmitted from the authentication entity Bj to the authentication entity Ai, and sS_B denotes a signature of the authentication element B; and

5) verifying, by the authentication entity Ai, the access authentication response message ARES_Bj upon reception thereof.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the authentication entity Bj verifies R_Bj in AREQ_Ai and R_Bj in INI_Bj for consistency upon reception of the access authentication request message AREQ_Ai, and if in case of consistency, if the authentication entity Bj fails to find a locally stored authentication result of the authentication element A, the method further comprises:

6) transmitting, by the authentication entity Bj, an identity authentication request message IREQ_Bj to the trusted third party TP, wherein

IREQ_Bj=R_Ai∥

T_Bj∥

ID_A∥

ID_B∥

Text3, wherein Text3 denotes a third optional text;

7) verifying, by the trusted third party TP, the authentication element A and the authentication element B for legality upon reception of the identity authentication request message IREQ_Bj;

8) returning, by the trusted third party TP, an identity authentication response message IRES_TP to the authentication entity Bj after verifying the authentication elements A and B for legality, wherein

IRES_TP=TokenTB;

TokenTB=R_Ai∥

Pub_B|T_Bj∥

Pub_A∥

Text4∥

sS_TP(R_Ai∥

Pub_B∥

T_Bj∥

Pub_A∥

Text4),

wherein TokenTB denotes a token transmitted from the trusted third party TP to the authentication entity Bj, sS_TP denotes a signature of the trusted third party TP, Pub_B denotes a verification result of the authentication element B by the trusted third party, T_Bj denotes synchronization information generated by the authentication entity Bi, Pub_A denotes a verification result of the authentication element A by the trusted third party, and Text4 denotes a fourth optional text;

9) upon reception of the identity authentication response message IRES_TP, verifying, by the authentication entity Bj, the identity authentication response message IRES_TP, storing locally the identity authentication response message IRES_TP, and forwarding the identity authentication response message IRES_TP to other authentication entities B1, B2, . . . , Bm (other than Bj) in the authentication element B after the verification is passed;

10) verifying and storing, by the authentication entities B1, B2, . . . , Bm (other than Bj) in the authentication element B, the identity authentication response message IRES_TP upon reception thereof; and

going to the step

     4) to proceed with the subsequent flow.

3. The mutual entity authentication method supporting rapid handoff according to claim 2, wherein in the step 7), if the identifiers ID_A and ID_B of the authentication elements A and B in the identity authentication request message IREQ_Bj are certificates, the TP verifies the certificates Cert_A and Cert_B of the authentication elements A and B for validity, and if the certificates Cert_A and Cert_B are invalid, the TP discards directly the identity authentication request message IREQ_Bj or returns the identity authentication response message IRES_TP;

or if the certificates Cert_A and Cert_B are valid, the TP returns the identity authentication response message IRES_TP and performs the step

     8).

4. The mutual entity authentication method supporting rapid handoff according to claim 2, wherein in the step 7), if the identifiers ID_A and ID_B of the authentication elements A and B in the identity authentication request message IREQ_Bj are distinguishing identifiers, the TP searches for public keys PublicKeyA and PublicKeyB of the authentication elements A and B and verifies the validities thereof, and if no public key is found or the public keys are invalid, the TP discards directly the identity authentication request message IREQ_Bj or returns the identity authentication response message IRES_TP;

or if the public keys PublicKeyA and PublicKeyB are found and valid, the TP returns the identity authentication response message IRES_TP and performs the step

     8).

5. The mutual entity authentication method supporting rapid handoff according to claim 3, wherein in the step 9), the authentication entity Bj verifies the identity authentication response message IRES_TP in the following process:

verifying the signature of the trusted third party TP in TokenTB, verifying T_Bj in IRES_TP and T_Bj in IREQ_Bj for consistency, and obtaining a verification result Pub_A of the authentication element A after the verification is passed; and

if the authentication element A is invalid, ending the process;

or if the authentication element A is valid, obtaining a public key PublicKey_A of the authentication element A, verifying the signature of the authentication element A in TokenAB, and if the signature is incorrect, ending the process;

or if the signature is correct, storing locally the identity authentication response message IRES_TP and forwarding the identity authentication response message IRES_TP to other authentication entities in the authentication element B, and going to the step

     10).

6. The mutual entity authentication method supporting rapid handoff according to claim 5, wherein in the step 10), the authentication entities B1, B2, . . . , Bm (other than Bj) verifies the identity authentication response message IRES_TP in the following process:

judging the freshness of the identity authentication response message IRES_TP according to T_Bj and local synchronization information, verifying the signature of the trusted third party TP in TokenTB, and if the signature is correct, obtaining the verification result Pub_A of the authentication element A and storing locally the identity authentication response message IRES_TP.

7. The mutual entity authentication method supporting rapid handoff according to claim 6, wherein in the step 4) the authentication entity Bj performs a Diffie-Hellman calculation from R_Bj and R_Ai and obtains a resultant value as the shared master key between the authentication entities Ai and Bj.

8. The mutual entity authentication method supporting rapid handoff according to claim 7, wherein in the step 5), the authentication entity Ai verifies the access authentication response message ARES_Bj in the following process:

verifying the signature of the trusted third party TP in TokenTB, verifying the signature of the authentication element B in TokenBA, verifying R_Ai in the access authentication response message ARES_Bj and R_Ai in the access authentication request message AREQ_Ai for consistency, and obtaining a verification result Pub_B of the authentication element B after the verification is passed;

if the authentication element B is invalid, failing with the authentication;

or if the authentication element B is valid, obtaining a public key PublicKey_B of the authentication element B and verifying the signature of the authentication element B in TokenBA, and if the signature is incorrect, failing with authentication;

or if the signature is correct, performing a Diffie-Hellman calculation from R_Bj and R_Ai to obtain the shared master key between the authentication entities Ai and Bj, thereby completing the mutual authentication between the authentication entities Ai and Bj.

9. The mutual entity authentication method supporting rapid handoff according to claim 4, wherein in the step 9), the authentication entity Bj verifies the identity authentication response message IRES_TP in the following process:

verifying the signature of the trusted third party TP in TokenTB, verifying T_Bj in IRES_TP and T_Bj in IREQ_Bj for consistency, and obtaining a verification result Pub_A of the authentication element A after the verification is passed; and

if the authentication element A is invalid, ending the process;

or if the authentication element A is valid, obtaining a public key PublicKey_A of the authentication element A, verifying the signature of the authentication element A in TokenAB, and if the signature is incorrect, ending the process;

or if the signature is correct, storing locally the identity authentication response message IRES_TP and forwarding the identity authentication response message IRES_TP to other authentication entities in the authentication element B, and going to the step

     10).