In 1978, Needham and Schroeder [2] proposed symmetric and public key based protocols for key establishment (more specifically, key transport) (see symmetric cryptosystem, public key cryptography, or [1]). Their protocols satisfy a number of properties, including mutual identification of the participants, key authentication, and the establishment of a shared key. Of historical importance, the Needham–Schroeder symmetric key protocol forms the basis for the Kerberos authentication protocol [1].
The symmetric key based version (see symmetric cryptosystem) employs a trusted server T (see Trusted Third Party) that is online, or active during the key establishment. In this protocol, user A wishes to establish a key with user B, and initiates a protocol with T for this purpose. Both A and B (as well as any other user that will interact with T) respectively share symmetric keys KA and KB with T. At a high level, this protocol involves A securely interacting with T to establish a shared key K,...
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References
Menezes, A., P. van Oorschot, and S. Vanstone (1997). Handbook of Applied Cryptography. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL.
Needham, R.M. and M.D. Schroeder (1978). “Using encryption for authentication in large networks of computers.” Communications of the ACM, 21, 993–999.
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Just, M. (2005). Needham–Schroeder Protocols. In: van Tilborg, H.C.A. (eds) Encyclopedia of Cryptography and Security. Springer, Boston, MA . https://doi.org/10.1007/0-387-23483-7_270
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