An efficient group key agreement protocol for ad-hoc networks

Ad-hoc networks offer communication over a shared wireless channel without any pre-existing infrastructure. Forming security association among a group of nodes in ad-hoc networks is more challenging than in conventional networks due to the lack of central authority. With that view in mind, group key management plays an important building block of any secure group communication. The main contribution of this paper is a low complexity key agreement scheme that is suitable for fully self-organized ad-hoc networks. The protocol is also password authenticated, making it resilient against active attacks. Unlike other existing key agreement protocols, ours make no assumption about the structure of the underlying wireless network, making it suitable for ldquotruly ad-hocrdquo networks. Finally, we will analyze our protocol to show the computation and communication burden on individual nodes for key establishment.