Key management method and network equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses a key management method. The method comprises the following steps: security alliances (SAs) are set up among network equipment; the network equipment as a group key sender and the network equipment as a group key receiver carry out negotiation on the group SAs; and the group key sender and the group key receiver use the group SAs after negotiation to protect the routing protocol messages. The invention also discloses the network equipment. The network equipment comprises an SA setup module, a group SA negotiation module and a message protection module, wherein the SA setup module is used for setting up SAs among the network equipment; the group SA negotiation module is used for carrying out negotiation on the group SAs; and the message protection module is used for using the group SAs after negotiation to protect the routing protocol messages. The method and the equipment have the effect of meeting the security demands of the routing protocol automatic management key materials.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to communication network security technology, more specifically, a key management method and network equipment. Background technique [0002] Since the fundamental function of the routing device is to realize the interconnection and intercommunication of the network through addressing and forwarding (that is, the routing function), the routing device becomes the infrastructure of the modern communication network. With the development of mobile communication networks, fixed networks and the Internet, the main application of the network is based on the trend of Internet Protocol (Internet Protocol, IP), which makes the status and role of routing devices more and more important. However, the early network designers focused on realizing the basic functions of the network, but ignored the security elements. They lacked security considerations when designing routing devices and routing protocols, resulting in the lack or insufficiency o...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

[0004] With the growth of network scale, manual configuration and update cannot meet security requirements such as fast key replacement and authentication algorithm replacement.

At the same time, the manual configuration method not only increases the workload of the administrator, but also causes the leakage of the security key of the routing device due to reasons such as the administrator's resignation, which is not conducive to the large-scale deployment and management of routing device security.

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