Securing fast handover in WLANs: a ticket based proactive authentication scheme

More and more wireless access networks based on WLANs e.g. IEEE 802.11 are publicly deployed in multiple environments such as airports, depots, shopping centers, etc. Efficient authentication mechanisms are required to ensure a robust control of network access and secure user exchanges. The evolution of mobile devices, wireless access technologies and user behaviors lead to an increasing demand of seamless mobility support. Thus, authentication mechanisms must support seamless handover across network cells. In previous work, we have proposed a fast re-authentication method based on proactive key distribution: PKD with IAPP caching. This method proposes a very interesting handover delay reduction but it does not comply with the IEEE 802.11i security requirements. In this paper, we propose a ticket-based enhancement to go beyond the security weakness of the PKD with IAPP caching re-authentication method. A functional description of the security enhancement is given in addition to a security evaluation.