Pre-shared key distribution protocol (PDP)

The proposed Pre-Shared Key Distribution Protocol (PDP) will distribute the IKE pre-shared key for IPSec between PDSN and HA in the 3GPP2 mobile networks. IPSec is used to provide security and integrity service between PDSN and HA. IKE is used for key exchange for the IPSec protocol. IKE can be configured to run either in pre-shared key mode or certificate mode to authenticate the identity of peers. There is a need for dynamic pre-shared key distribution protocol due to complexity and interoperability problems of IKE in certificate mode. Also the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) required for the certificate mode is not available widely. Static pre-shared keys are not flexible to configure and easy to manage. The proposed key distribution protocol provides similar flexibility as certificates and is not prone to the interoperability and complexity problems inherent in PKI. The PDP protocol will eliminate the communication overhead and the number of packets dropped due to the expiration of the pre-shared keys. Also, it reduces the computation over head of pre shared key calculation as it is calculated only when needed. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)