Distributed Private Key Generation for Identity Based Cryptosystems in Ad Hoc Networks

Identity Based Cryptography (IBC) has the advantage that no public key certification is needed when used in a mobile ad hoc network (MANET). This is especially useful when bi-directional channels do not exist in a MANET. However, IBC normally needs a centralized server for issuing private keys for different identities. We give a protocol distributing this task among all users, thus eliminating the need of a centralized server in IBC for use in MANETs.