NDN-ACE: Access Control for Constrained Environments over Named Data Networking

The access control problem, including authentication and authorization, is critical to the security and privacy of the IoT networks. In this paper we present NDN-ACE, a lightweight access control protocol for constrained environments over Named Data Networking (NDN). NDN-ACE uses symmetric cryptography to authenticate the actuation commands on the constrained devices but offloads the key distribution and management tasks to a more powerful trusted third party. It utilizes hierarchical NDN names to express fine-grained access control policies that bind the identity of the command senders to the services they are authorized to access. The key management protocol in NDN-ACE allows the senders to update their access keys periodically without requiring tight synchronization among the devices. The evaluation shows that NDN-ACE has fewer message exchange and uses fewer components in the overall network architecture compared to the IP-based alternatives. The “proof-of-concept” prototype also demonstrates the feasibility and efficiency of the NDN-ACE framework.