An Authentication and Authorization Architecture for the Mobile Internet

The paper describes an authentication and authorization architecture for mobile Internet users. The architecture is based on the Shibboleth middleware that has been developed by the Middleware Architecture Committee for Education of the Internet2 Middleware Initiative. The initial goal of this middleware was access control to digital content available in the Internet. We propose to use this middleware also for controlling Internet access via wireless local area networks. First, users need to negotiate credentials with their home organization. After a single login at their home organization roaming users can access the Internet via different (wireless) access networks. The system has been implemented on Linux platforms.