Protecting all traffic channels in mobile IPv6 network

Abstract

In this paper, we propose a comprehensive security solution for mobile IPv6 networks including secure binding up-date, secure fast handover, user authentication and session key management for data security. In our proposal, one of the home agent's functions is to act as security proxy for its mobile nodes. The authentication is based on the home agent's certificate and the secret session keys are generated by strong cryptosystems. Since these session keys are long term, it is more suitable for fast handover in mobile network. In addition, as the major operations are deployed on the fixed and wired machines, i.e., the home agents of mobile nodes, it keeps well the balance between the strong security requirements for e-commerce and the weak capability of mobile devices in term of computing power and communicating speed. Our proposal avoids many security obstacles in the Return Routability protocol and provides a simple, integrated and efficient security solution for mobile communication.