Security (PACWOMAN Sub project 3)

Within the proposed network architecture security aspects are of great importance. First of all user authentication has to be performed to ensure that nodes entering the network are allowed to do so. After this it is determined which part of the network the node is allowed to access and how exchanged messages should be encrypted: confidentiality. These are the two fundamental security problems related to connecting to the infrastructure In some cases it is also necessary to show that messages have not been modified: integrity, and that the message really originates from the sender who claims to have sent it: non-repudiation. CPK focuses its research on security mechanisms in the virtual devices of the PANs, where the terminals have limited capabilities and high power consumption requirements. The mechanisms can rely on a central manager: the master terminal could take up this role and the change frequency of the network is relatively low. Other security aspects are for example encountered in the PAN-PAN communication, and network access through the gateway. (Carl Wijting, Yaoda Liu, Istvan Kovacs, Liljana Gavrilovska, Efrayim Metin)