Abstract
Nodes in ad hoc networks generally transmit data at regular intervals over long periods of time. Recently, ad hoc network nodes have been built that run on little power and have very limited memory. Authentication is a significant challenge in ad hoc networks, even without considering size and power constraints. Expounding on idealized hashing, this paper examines lower bounds for ad hoc broadcast authentication for μTESLA-like protocols. In particular, this paper explores idealized hashing for generating preimages of hash chains. Building on Bellare and Rogaway’s classical definition, a similar definition for families of hash chains is given. Using these idealized families of hash chain functions, this paper gives a time-space product Ω(k2 log 4 n) bit operation1 lower-bound for optimal preimage hash chain generation for k constant. This bound holds where n is the total length of the hash chain and the hash function family is k-wise independent. These last results follow as corollaries to a lower bound of Coppersmith and Jakobsson.
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A preliminary version of this paper appeared at MWN 2003: Workshop on Mobile and Wireless Networks, (a workshop of the 23rd ICDCS), 743–748, Ivan Stojmenovic and Jingyuan Zhang Editors. IEEE Press.
Phillip G. Bradford (ACM) is on the faculty in Computer Science at the University of Alabama. He was visiting faculty at Rutgers Business school and was a postdoc at the Max-Planck-Institute for Informatik. He earned his Ph.D. at Indiana University in Bloomington, his MS at The University of Kansas and his BS at Rutgers University. He has also had more than 4 years experience in industry.
Olga V. Gavrylyako (ACMS) is a Ph.D. student at Computer Science Department of the University of Alabama. Her research interests include theoretical aspects of security for constrained devises, in particular security for ad hoc networks. Olga Gavrylyako received her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in Applied Mathematics from Kharkov State University, Ukraine.
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Bradford, P.G., Gavrylyako, O.V. Foundations of Security for Hash Chains in Ad Hoc Networks. Cluster Comput 8, 189–195 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-005-6184-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10586-005-6184-6