AAA and Network Security for Mobile Access

The problem of providing secure network access for remote mobile users is becoming more and more complicated. Therefore the IETF have developed several standards (RADIUS, DIAMETER) to systematize the current security mechanisms. RADIUS enables remote access servers to communicate with a central server to authenticate dial—in users and authorize their access to the requested system or service. RADIUS allows a company to maintain user profiles in a central database that all remote servers can share. These approaches are very detailed and complex, i.e. understood by a handful of researchers and engineers. The authors of this exciting book strive to provide a guide/reference to this important standard as security is becoming an integrated part of network architecture design, describing the AAA framework along with insights into security protocols, the usage of PKIs, public key certificates (for IPSec) and security key management.

Author Biography

Madjid Nakhjiri is currently a researcher and network architect with Motorola Labs. He has been involved in the wireless communications industry since 1994. Over the years, Madjid has participated in the development of many cellular and public safety mission-critical projects, ranging from cellular location detection receiver design and voice modeling simulations to the design of architecture and protocols for QoS-based admission, call control, mobile VPN access and AAA procedures for emergency response networks. Madjid has been active in the standardization of mobility and security procedures in IETF, 3G and IEEE since 2000 and is a coauthor of a few IETF RFCs. Madjid has also coauthored many IEEE papers, chaired several IEEE conference session and has many patent applications in process. Mahsa Nakhjiri is currently a systems engineer with Motorola Personal Devices and is involved in future cellular technology planning. Mahsa holds degrees in Mathematics and Electrical Engineering and has specialized in mathematical signal processing for antenna arrays. She has been involved in research on cellular capacity planning and modeling, design and simulation of radio and link layer protocols and their interaction with transport protocols in wireless environments. Mahsa has also worked with cellular operators on mobility and AAA issues from an operator perspective.