An authenticated group key distribution mechanism using theory of numbers

A group key distribution protocol can enable members of a group to share a secret group key and use it for secret communications. In 2010, Harn and Lin proposed an authenticated group key distribution protocol using polynomial-based secret sharing scheme. Recently, Guo and Chang proposed a similar protocol based on the generalized Chinese remainder theorem. In this paper, we point out that there are some security problems of Guo and Chang’s protocol and propose a simpler authenticated group key distribution protocol based on the Chinese remainder theorem. The confidentiality of our proposed protocol is unconditionally secure. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Received 28 January 2013 Revised 29 March 2013 Accepted 15 April 2013