A Mobile Host Protocol Supporting Route Optimization and Authentication

Abstract

Host mobility is becoming an important issue due to the recent proliferation of notebook and palmtop computers, the development of wireless network interfaces, and the growth in global internetworking. This paper describes the design and implementation of a mobile host protocol, called the Internet Mobile Host Protocol (IMHP), that is compatible with the TCP/IP protocol suite, and allows a mobile host to move around the Internet without changing its identity. In particular, IMHP provides host mobility over both the local and wide area, while remaining transparent to the user and to other hosts communicating with the mobile host. IMHP features route optimization and integrated authentication of all management packets. Route optimization allows a node to cache the location of a mobile host and to send future packets directly to that mobile host. By authenticating all management packets, IMHP guards against possible attacks on packet routing to mobile hosts, including the interception or redirection of arbitrary packets within the network. A simple new authentication mechanism is introduced that preserves the level of security found in the Internet today, while accommodating the transition to stronger authentication based on public key cryptography or shared keys that may either be manually administered or provided by a future Internet key management protocol. © 1995 IEEE