Abstract: Lightweight Authentication for HIP

Abstract

In recent years numerous solutions for overcoming the architectural constraints of the Internet have emerged. One of the most promising among them is the Host Identity Protocol (HIP) [2], which was recently approved as an experimental standard by the IETF. HIP adds an additional protocol layer between TCP and IP to implement the Identifier/Locator split. Apart from mobility and multihoming, HIP supports host authentication, payload encryption, and a cryptographic namespace without requiring changes to the network infrastructure or network applications. However, especially mobile devices with tightly limited CPU resources are slowed down by HIP. Its poor performance on these mobile devices is a result of the extensive use of public-key (PK) cryptography for securing the main protocol functions.