02.11.2012 Views

Handover mechanisms in next generation heterogeneous wireless ...

Handover mechanisms in next generation heterogeneous wireless ...

Handover mechanisms in next generation heterogeneous wireless ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

SECURITY FOR HANDOVER ACROSS HETEROGENEOUS WIRELESS NETWORKS<br />

access identifier. Most RFCs do not specify the rout<strong>in</strong>g procedure along the roam<strong>in</strong>g<br />

relationship path when us<strong>in</strong>g RADIUS [40].<br />

On the AAA rout<strong>in</strong>g path, each proxy can implement its local policies by modify<strong>in</strong>g<br />

attributes when forward<strong>in</strong>g the RADIUS messages. This can be done without provid<strong>in</strong>g<br />

any notifications, although it risks of be<strong>in</strong>g misused by external parties and undetected<br />

by the end entities. RADIUS utilises a shared secret between a proxy and a remote<br />

server to protect hop-by-hop AAA transmissions <strong>in</strong>stead of end-to-end security between<br />

the NAS and the RADIUS server. This would result <strong>in</strong> a number of security threats such<br />

as message edit<strong>in</strong>g, attribute edit<strong>in</strong>g, replay attacks, connection hijack<strong>in</strong>g and so forth,<br />

as stated <strong>in</strong> the IETF specification [60]. Lack<strong>in</strong>g auditability and transmission-level<br />

security features makes RADIUS-based roam<strong>in</strong>g susceptible to fraud perpetrated by the<br />

roam<strong>in</strong>g partners themselves.<br />

Diameter Protocol<br />

As the successor to RADIUS, the Diameter protocol has been developed to provide a<br />

series of enhancements <strong>in</strong> response to new requirements on failover, transmission-level<br />

security, reliable transport, agent support, capability negotiation, roam<strong>in</strong>g support and<br />

so forth, as described <strong>in</strong> IETF RFC 2989 [61]. Diameter provides an upgrade path for<br />

RADIUS.<br />

The Diameter base protocol is def<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> RFC 3588 [62] to provide the m<strong>in</strong>imum<br />

requirements needed for an AAA protocol. The concept of “Application” is <strong>in</strong>troduced<br />

<strong>in</strong> the Diameter base protocol. A Diameter application is a protocol based on the<br />

Diameter base protocol. For example, the <strong>in</strong>teractions of a Diameter server with a NAS<br />

for authentication and authorisation is considered an application for Diameter, and is<br />

def<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> a separate specification RFC 4005 [63]. The Diameter applications such as<br />

Mobile IPv4 (RFC 4004), Network Access Server Requirements (NASREQ) (RFC<br />

4005), and EAP (RFC 4072) applications are def<strong>in</strong>ed to extend the base protocol by<br />

add<strong>in</strong>g new commands and attributes.<br />

Diameter is a peer/peer protocol, where both the client and server can issue request or<br />

response <strong>in</strong> a transaction. In contrast, RADIUS mentioned earlier is a client/server<br />

- 51 -

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!