Adapting group key management protocols to wireless, ad-hoc networks without the assumption of view synchrony /by David Manz.

Secure communication is fundamental in the current field of group key management protocols, but this must be weighed against protocol functionality on networks. As group key management enters the wireless, ad-hoc realm, the need for security in exchanges of information must also be coupled and balanced with efficiency and functionality. Dynamic and instant communications, where no previous cryptographic keys have been shared, have previously been designed and tested on wired, fully connected networks. Simply placing these protocols into a wireless, ad-hoc network leads to total failure or grave cost overruns, due to the multihop communication and random distributions of these network topologies. View Synchrony is a collection of assumptions that were useful for wired networks, but can no longer be maintained for wireless ad-hoc scenarios. These communication issues can lead to costly, ineffective, and insecure communications, when not properly considered and addressed. As the current nature of much of group key management is theoretical, practical considerations, like View Synchrony, were left unaddressed. Previous research at the University of Idaho, including my master's thesis, """"A Network Simulator for Group Key Management Algorithms,"""" [1] has led to the creation of protocols that take into account communication and computation costs, going beyond the theoretical and bringing to the forefront a viable group key management protocol that can now be extended into wireless, ad-hoc networks.;This dissertation assesses the various practical difficulties of joining, leaving, and dynamically redefining groups within wireless, ad-hoc group key management communication, in order to enable communication in new networks and topologies. Through a new disruptive tolerant efficient group key protocol, called DTEGK, large and dynamic groups can now communicate securely across an ad-hoc wireless network. Using Java simulations, this protocol implements network discovery and neighbor pairing when compared to previous network agnostic protocols. The discovery of how well various protocols, including DTEGK, address these issues are examined, and led to the determination that DTEGK offers communication over wireless ad-hoc networks without the assumptions or limitations, like View Synchrony, of previous generation protocols.Thesis (Ph. D., Computer Science)--University of Idaho, December 2009