Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Performance evaluation of an authentication solution for IMS services access

  • Published:
Telecommunication Systems Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) is an access-independent, IP based, service control architecture. Users’ authentication to the IMS takes place through the AKA (Authentication and Key Agreement) protocol, while Generic Bootstrapping Architecture (GBA) is used to authenticate users before accessing the multimedia services over HTTP. In this paper, we focus on the performance analysis of an IMS Service Authentication solution that we proposed and that employs the Identity Based Cryptography (IBC) to personalize each user access. We carry out the implementation of this solution on top of an emulated IMS architecture and evaluate its performance through different clients’ access scenarios. Performance results indicate that increase in the number of clients does not influence the average processing time and the average consumed resources of the GBA entities during the authentication. We also notice that the Bootstrapping Server Function (BSF) presents a bottleneck during the service authentication which helps in giving some guidelines for the GBA entities deployment.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Explore related subjects

Discover the latest articles, news and stories from top researchers in related subjects.

Abbreviations

3GPP:

Third Generation Partnership Project

AKA:

Authentication and Key Agreement

AS:

Application Server

BSF:

Bootstrapping Server Function

B-TID:

Bootstrapping Transaction Identifier

CK:

Cipher Key

CSCFs:

Call State Control Functions

ECC:

Elliptic Curve Cryptography

ECDSA:

Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm

ECDH:

Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman

GBA:

Generic Bootstrapping Architecture

GUSS:

GBA User Security Settings

HSS:

Home Subscriber Server

HTTP:

Hyper Text Transfer Protocol

IBC:

Identity Based Cryptography

I-CSCF:

Interrogating Call State Control Function

IK:

Integrity Key

IMPI:

IP Multimedia Private Identity

IMPU:

IP Multimedia Public Identity

IMS:

IP Multimedia Subsystem

ISIM:

IP Multimedia Services Identity Module

Kpiv :

User’s private key

Kpub :

User’s pubic key

Ks:

Key Material

Ks-NAF:

NAF specific key

NAF:

Network Application Function

NAF-ID:

NAF identity

NAI:

Network Access Identifier

NGN:

Next Generation Network

P-CSCF:

Proxy Call State Control Function

PKG:

Private Key Generator

RAND:

Random challenge in authentication

S-CSCF:

Serving Call State Control Function

SA-IBC:

Service Authentication based on IBC

SHA:

Secure Hash Algorithm

SIP:

Session Initiation Protocol

SQN:

Sequence numbers

TISPAN:

Telecoms & Internet converged Services & Protocols for Advanced Networks

UE:

User Equipment

UMTS:

Universal Mobile Telecommunication Standard

VoIP:

Voice over IP

XRES:

Expected response in authentication

References

  1. Camarillo, G., & Garcia-Martin, M.-A. (2004). The 3G IP multimedia subsystem (IMS): merging the Internet and the Cellular Worlds. Hoboken: Wiley.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. 3GPP TS 31.103: Characteristics of the IP multimedia services identity module (ISIM) application.

  3. RFC 3310 (2002). Hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) digest authentication using authentication and key agreement (AKA).

  4. 3GPP TS 133.220. Generic authentication architecture (GAA). Generic bootstrapping architecture.

  5. Sher, M., & Magedanz, T. (2006). Secure access to IP multimedia services using generic bootstrapping architecture (GBA) for 3G & beyond mobile networks. Q2SWinet 2006: pp. 17–24.

  6. Priselac, D., & Mikuc, M. Security risks of pre-IMS AKA access security solutions. Available in http://www.ericsson.com/hr/etk/dogadjanja/mipro_2008/1227.pdf.

  7. 3GPP2 S.R0086-0: IMS security framework.

  8. Wu, L., Zhangb, Y., & Wang, F. (2009). A new provably secure authentication and key agreement protocol for SIP using ECC. Computer Standards & Interfaces, 31(2), 286–291.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Ring, J., Choo, K. Raymond, & Foo, E. (2007). One-pass authentication and key agreement procedure in IP multimedia subsystem for UMTS. In Advanced information networking and applications, AINA (pp. 482–489).

    Google Scholar 

  10. Ring, J., Choo, K.R., & Foo, E. (2006). A new authentication mechanism and key agreement protocol for SIP using identity-based cryptography. In AusCERT2006 R&D stream, Gold Coast, Australia.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Boneh, D., & Franklin, M. (2001). Identity-based encryption from the Weil pairing. In Lecture notes in computer science: Vol. 2139. Proceedings of CRYPTO ’01 (pp. 213–229). Berlin: Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Abid, M., Song, S., Moustafa, H., & Afifi, A. (2009). Efficient identity-based authentication for IMS based services access. In ACM mobile computing & multimedia (MOMM 09) (pp. 278–284).

    Google Scholar 

  13. 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP). http://www.3gpp.org/.

  14. Telecoms & Internet converged services & protocols for advanced networks (TISPAN). http://www.etsi.org/tispan/.

  15. 3GPP technical specification TS 33.102: 3G security. Security architecture.

  16. 3GPP TS 33.203: 3G security. Access security for IP-based services.

  17. 3GPP TS 33.210: 3G security. Network domain security (NDS). IP network layer security.

  18. 3GPP TS 123 228. IP multimedia subsystem (IMS); Stage 2.

  19. Shamir, A. (1984) Identity-based cryptosystems and signature schemes. In: CRYPTO 84.

    Google Scholar 

  20. ANSI X9.62 (1999), The elliptic curve digital signature algorithm (ECDSA), American Bankers Association.

  21. ANSI X9.63 (1999), Elliptic curve key agreement and key transport protocols, American Bankers Association.

  22. Levine, J. R., Mason, T., & Brown, D. (1992). LEX & YACC, (2nd edn). pp. 1–2. Sebastopol: O’Reilly. ISBN 1-56592-000-7.

    Google Scholar 

  23. Miracl: multiprecision integer and rational arithmetic C/C++ library. Available in http://www.shamus.i.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Orange Labs, France Telecom R&D, 38-40 rue du Général Leclerc, 92794, Issy les Moulineaux, France

    Songbo Song & Hassnaa Moustafa

  2. RS2M department, Telecom & Management South Paris, 9, rue Charles Fourier, 91011, Evry Cedex, France

    Mohamed Abid & Hossam Afifi

Authors
  1. Songbo Song
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mohamed Abid
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Hassnaa Moustafa
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  4. Hossam Afifi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hassnaa Moustafa.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Song, S., Abid, M., Moustafa, H. et al. Performance evaluation of an authentication solution for IMS services access. Telecommun Syst 52, 2205–2218 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11235-011-9543-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11235-011-9543-z

Keywords