Security Protocols for Pervasive Computing Applications

Massachusetts Institute Of Technology, Cambridge MA

Investigators

Abstract

The integration of wearable and embedded devices into a pervasive computing environment requires significant attention to security and privacy issues. A system architecture with associated protocols for secure pervasive computing is investigated. The system architecture is based on the existence of a software proxy for each device. All objects in the system, e.g., appliances, wearable gadgets, software agents, and users have associated trusted software proxies that either run on an embedded processor on the appliance, or on a trusted computer. In the case where the device has minimal computational power, and communicates to its proxy through a wired or wireless network, the communication in the proposed system adheres to a proposed device-to-proxy protocol. It is also proposed that proxies communicate with each other using a secure proxy-to-proxy protocol based on SPKI/SDSI (Simple Public Key Infrastructure / Simple Distributed Security Infrastructure). Some devices, e.g., terminals or displays, may not be trusted or their security might be compromised, but users may still wish to use them, because they provide a large screen or large bandwidth resources. An untrusted computer protocol based on visual authentication is proposed such that users can use the untrusted computer and authenticate displayed information as well as communicate securely to a remote application. Using the architectural ideas described above, the design and implementation of a pervasive-computing environment which allows for secure, yet efficient, access to networked, mobile devices is proposed.