Group Authentication and Group Key Distribution for Ad Hoc Networks

Group authentication and group key distribution ensure the security of group communication. Most existing schemes of group authentication and group key distribution need the assistance of a group manager. However, deciding upon a group manager can be difficult work for some practical applications, especially in an Ad Hoc network. Therefore, we proposed a group authentication and group key distribution scheme that does not require a group manager. Our proposed scheme is an identitybased scheme based on bilinear pairing. In our proposed scheme, any user can easily generate a group for communication purposes. All or part of a group can authenticate each other and obtain a group key without foreknowledge or limiting the number of individuals attending the communication session. Any group member can join or quit the group communication securely in the duration of the meeting. Our proposed scheme requires little communication and computation cost and is resistant to common attacks. Furthermore, in order to take full advantage of the properties of computing ability, which can differ within Ad Hoc networks, our proposed scheme can designate the user with the greatest computing ability to distribute the group key.