Secure Many-to-Many Multicast in Heterogeneous Networks

Abstract

Many-to-many multicasting in a heterogeneous network can be modeled by a decentralized framework where several subgroup managers of each network domain control their members independently and coordinate the inter-domain communications. In this study, we propose a topology-matching decentralized group key management scheme that allows multiple service providers to update and deliver their group keys to valid members even if the members are located in other administrative network domains. The group keys of multicast services are delivered in a distributed manner using the identity-based encryption scheme. Data confidentiality is guaranteed against the untrusted relaying nodes of different domains during the message delivery process. The analysis result indicates that the proposed scheme has the advantages of low rekeying cost and storage overhead for a member and a relaying node in the many-to-many multicast environment.