MLS Delivery Service Using hICN for Group Key Distribution
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Solution Overview
Problem
Messaging Layer Security (MLS) protocols face inefficiencies in managing group membership operations due to the need for broadcasted commit messages, which result in high network resource usage and scalability limitations, especially in networks with devices constrained by bandwidth and latency.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a delivery service that splits commit messages into subsets and uses Hybrid Information-Centric Networking (hICN) to map these subsets to specific destination subgroups within an MLS group, optimizing communication by reducing redundant data transmission and leveraging hICN's suffix encoding for efficient message delivery.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If commit messages are broadcast to all MLS group members, then all members receive security updates, but network resource usage increases and scalability is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the MLS group into multiple subgroups and divides commit messages into targeted subsets for each subgroup. Instead of broadcasting complete commit messages to all N members, the delivery service identifies which subset of public and private keys should be sent to which destination subgroup, reducing redundant data transmission and achieving O(log2N) downlink bandwidth complexity.
2Reliability
If commit messages are broadcast to all MLS group members, then all members receive security updates, but downlink bandwidth complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The delivery service extracts only the necessary subset of public and private keys from the complete commit message for each destination subgroup. By identifying and transmitting only the relevant key subsets rather than complete commit messages to all members, the system reduces data transmission volume while ensuring all members receive their required security updates.
3Reliability
If MLS provides dynamic management of group membership including offline members, then security is maintained, but time and network resources increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by pre-establishing key bundles for offline members and storing them in advance. When membership changes occur, the delivery service can quickly distribute pre-prepared key subsets to affected subgroups without waiting for online communication, significantly reducing the time required for membership operations while maintaining security for both online and offline members.
Data Source
AI summary
In one embodiment, a delivery service provided by a device receives one or more Messaging Layer Security commit messages comprising a plurality of public and private keys for a Messaging Layer Security group. The delivery service identifies subsets of the plurality of public and private keys to be sent to different destination subgroups in the Messaging Layer Security group. The delivery service maps each of the subsets to Hybrid Information-Centric Networking names. The delivery service sends, based on the Hybrid Information-Centric Networking names, the subsets of the plurality of public and private keys to destination subgroups in the Messaging Layer Security group.