Security in the Ambient Computational Environment

Acknowledgements This thesis is the result of the help and support of many people. I would like to thank my committee-Dr. Evans, Dr Minden and Dr Agah for providing me with their valuable suggestions and insight. All their inputs came in at the right time and their help continued even after ACE was unfortunately closed down. Thanks are also due to our Senior Research Engineer Leon Searl without whom ACE would not have been designed or implemented. Abstract An Ambient Computational Environment (ACE) is a set of Devices and services that allow any user to operate in the Environment without the usage of too many cumbersome devices attached to the users person. Security in such an infrastructure is a must for apparent reasons. This thesis addresses the design and implementation issues related to securing an ACE, namely identification of a user and a service in the ACE and ensuring proper encrypted communications between users and services alike. A limited form of Public Key Infrastructure has been put in place in the ACE. Identification through X.509 digital certificates and RSA Key pairs also ensures compatibility with other applications.