RBWA: an efficient random-bit window-based authentication protocol

Given the wide and rapid deployment of “visitor networks” [1], how to authenticate the user and account the usage on the per-packet basis securely and yet efficiently is still a challenging problem. In this paper, we explore the tradeoff between performance and security, and propose a per-datapacket authentication and access control protocol called RBWA (Random-Bit Window-based Authentication). Deployed in the IP layer, RBWA can work with various underlying linker-layer specific mechanisms and network topologies. And comparing to IPSec, it dramatically reduces the overhead and power consumption by adding only a few bits to each data packet. Furthermore, RBWA is strong against a suite of attacks such as replay attack, Denial-of-Service attack and spoofing etc. In particular, a robust anti-replay window scheme is developed to counter the severe packet reordering. The performance of RBWA is evaluated via the simulation.