Self-initialized Distributed Certificate Authority for Mobile Ad Hoc Network

Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is suitable for providing communication services in situations where no infrastructure exists. Due to the unique features of MANET, most of the applications of MANET have non-trivial security requirements. As the basis of security services, key management is essential for securing communication systems. In this paper, we address issues critical to key management in MANET. A Self-initialized Distributed Certificate Authority (SDCA) model which combines the advantages of two existing schemes, the Distributed Certificate Authority (DCA) scheme and Certificate Chain (CC) scheme, is proposed. In the proposed model, no trusted dealer or the pre-established trust relationships is required. Instead, entities in the MANET could collaborate to initialize the key management service on the fly. The simulation results illustrate that the proposed model will bring less communication, storage and computational overheads for maintaining and using the key management service than other self-organized key management schemes.