Authentication and Key Establishment: No Silver Bullet

The need for Authentication and Key Establishment (AKE) can be realized in a variety of applications in computer and communication networks where two or more entities need to communicate over shared communication media. The fundamental question addressed by this book is: How to enable two or more entities to communicate securely?The computing and communication environments in which AKE is needed affect the overall design of the solution. In this book, we broadly classify the environments in three scenarios on the basis of factors like available computation power, energy, and communication bandwidth etc.1. High-end to High-end (e. g. Computer to Computer)2. High-end to Low-end (e. g. Base station to Cell)3. Low-end to Low-end (e. g. Sensor to Sensor) We then propose solutions to AKE and related problems. This book is suitable for intermediate to advanced level reader. Reader is expected to have understanding of fundamentals of cryptography.