A user friendly authentication scheme with anonymity for wireless communications

Secure user authentication is an important issue for wireless environment such as GSM, CDPD, and 3G and 4G wireless systems. Especially, anonymity of the mobile users should be guaranteed to protect the privacy of the mobile users. This paper proposes a user friendly authentication scheme with anonymity for wireless communications that not only can overcome the weaknesses of the previous related schemes, but also can provide efficiency and security to suitable for battery-powered mobile devices in wireless communication systems.

The proposed scheme is composed of three phases: registration, authentication, and roaming. In the registration phase, the home agent issues a smart card for a mobile user through a secure channel. In the authentication phase, a roaming user sends a login request message to a foreign agent and then the visited foreign agent authenticates the mobile user through his/her home agent. After a successful validation, an authenticated session key is established between the foreign agent and the mobile user. If a mobile user is always within the same foreign network (or his/her home network), the roaming phase can ensure the freshness of the session key.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide