Wireless communication authentication

Abstract

A replay attack from an unauthorized user is easily avoided by wireless communication authentication. A mobile node acquires an inherent identification number owned by a base station connected to the mobile node, and sends authentication packet data including the identification number and information providing transfer route information for packet data sent to the mobile node through a wireless link. A router holds an inherent identification number owned by a base station connected to the router, and, if the identification number held by the router agrees with the identification number included in the authentication packet data sent from the mobile node, registers the transfer route information in a route table based on the authentication packet data.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]1. Field of the Invention[0002]The present invention relates to a wireless communication authentication system and a wireless communication authentication method for excluding an unauthorized user from a network that is connected to a wireless communication area.[0003]2. Description of the Related Art[0004]Generally, wireless communication systems need to authenticate legitimate users who are going to use the network in order to exclude an unauthorized user who would attempt to intercept data sent from a mobile node owned by a legitimate user to a wireless link and abuse the network based on the intercepted data.[0005]FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a conventional host routing hierarchical network comprising external network 100, a plurality of routers 101, 102-1, 102-2, 103-1 through 103-4, a plurality of base stations 104-1 through 104-8, mobile node 105, and authentication server 106. Router 101 is connected to external network 100. Rout...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0041]It is an object of the present invention to provide a wireless communication authentication system and a wireless communication authentication method which are capable of performing a quick authentication process for avoiding a replay attack carried out by an unauthorized user, without the need for the addition of authenticating functions to respective base stations.

Problems solved by technology

However, because one common authentication server is used to authenticate the route update data in routers 103-1 through 103-4, problems arise as follows:

If the authentication server is widely spaced from the newly connected base station, then an authentication packet transmitted between the authentication server and the base station suffers a transmission delay, possibly resulting in a communication failure time upon handover.

However, the above solutions make it possible for an unauthorized user to use the network based on a replay attack.

Consequently, legitimate mobile node 205 is no longer able to use the wireless communication authentication system.

The process disclosed in the above patent document is problematic in that many base stations installed in a wireless communication area need to have respective authenticating functions, and an edge router has to recognize whether all base stations connected to and operable under the edge router have respective authenticating functions or not.

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