An enhanced one way function tree rekey protocol based on Chinese remainder theorem

Abstract

Group communication is the basis for many recent multimedia and web applications. The group key management is one of the most critical problems in a large dynamic group. All group rekeying protocols add communication as well as computational overhead at the Group Key Controller (GKC) and group members. The trade off between these overheads depends on different levels of security required for different types of multicast applications [10,12,16]. This proposed work introduces a new key management algorithm based on Chinese reminder theorem (CRT). This algorithm uses CRT tuple of smaller remainders instead of keys of larger bits. So, any computation on these keys is carried out in parallel using remainders. Thus this approach reduces overall computational overhead. This algorithm reduces communication over head during the join event highly without compromising security. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2005.