A Survey of Key Management in Mobile Ad Hoc Networks

Abstract

Security has become a primary concern in mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs). The characteristics of MANETs pose both challenges and opportunities in achieving security goals, such as confidentiality, authentication, integrity, availability, access control, and nonrepudiation. Cryptographic techniques are widely used for secure communications in wired and wireless networks. Most cryptographic mechanisms, such as symmetric and asymmetric cryptography, often involve the use of cryptographic keys. However, all cryptographic techniques will be ineffective if the key management is weak. Key management is also a central component in MANET security. The purpose of key management is to provide secure procedures for handling cryptographic keying materials. The tasks of key management include key generation, key distribution, and key maintenance. Key maintenance includes the procedures for key storage, key update, key revocation, key archiving, and so forth. In MANETs, the computational load and complexity for key management are strongly subject to restriction by the node’s available resources and the dynamic nature of network topology. A number of key management schemes have been proposed for MANETs. In this chapter, we present a survey of the research work on key management in MANETs according to recent literature.

Key Terms in this Chapter

Key: A set of values that a cryptographic algorithm operates on

Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET): A collection of mobile hosts form a temporary network without centralized administration.

Group Key: A common secret known by the group members

Key Ring: A set of public or private keys used in PGP.

Certification Authority (CA): A trusted third party in an asymmetric cryptosystem that vouches for the binding of the public key with an identity.

Key Management: The process of managing key materials in a cryptosystem which is related to key generation, storage, exchange, update, and replacement

Key Distribution Center (KDC): A trusted third party in a symmetric cryptosystem that establishes a shared secret key between two parties