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Mobile agents and telcos’ nightmares

Agents Mobiles et les Cauchemars des OpÉrateurs de TÉlÉcommunication

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Abstract

The paper analyzes the current state- of- the- art of mobile agents technology wrt security, seen from the standpoint of a public network operator (pno). It is argued that the current state- of- the- art does not offer sufficient security for large- scale, commercial applications of mobile agents technology within the pno ’s networks. To support this premise, the most important security issues in this context are discussed, and a number of deficiencies are identified. Some of these deficiencies pose principal questions for future research that are not necessarily widely accepted within the agent community.

Résumé

Cet article analyse l’état de l’art dans le domaine de la sécurité des agents mobiles du point de vue d’un opérateur de télécommunication. L’argument principal introduit dans l’article est l’insuffisance des solutions existantes par rapport aux exigences de facteur d’échelle qu ’on retrouve chez les opérateurs. Les principaux problèmes de sécurité rencontrés dans ce cadre sont analysés et les défauts correspondants sont identifiés. Certains de ces problèmes soulèvent des questions controversées concernant la recherche future dans le domaine de la sécurité des agents mobiles.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IBM Research, IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, Säumerstr. 4, CH-8803, Rüschlikon

    Günter Karjoth

  2. Deutsche Telekom AG, Technologiezentrum, it Security Research, D-64276, Darmstadt

    Joachim Posegga

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  1. Günter Karjoth
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  2. Joachim Posegga
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Correspondence to Günter Karjoth or Joachim Posegga.

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Karjoth, G., Posegga, J. Mobile agents and telcos’ nightmares. Ann. Télécommun. 55, 388–400 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02994846

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