Trust-Propagation Based Authentication Protocol in Multihop Wireless Home Networks

Abstract — In this paper, we propose an authentication and secure channel establishment protocol that is reliable and adaptable for multihop wireless home networks. The main idea is that a home server hands over its authenticating capability to some already authenticated devices to enable these devices to be able to authenticate other devices which cannot reach the home server directly due to their physical location and radio power constraints. Key to our design is a neighbor device authentication protocol, based on pre-user-injected network password, with minimal reliance on public key cryptographic operation. In addition, our protocol supports a secure channel establishment among heterogeneous devices after authentication. Through the evaluation, we show that our protocol is resistant to various attacks