Re: [MEXT] Well-known problem with authentication/etc. in wireless networks

[Julien Laganier <[e-mail]>]

Charlie,

I am not sure I understand what is missing in MIPv6; a MN and an HA
can already mutually authenticate using EAP, and this is incidentally
what 3GPP leverages on, together with the EAP-AKA method. What is
missing?

--julien

On Wed, Aug 24, 2011 at 12:06 PM, Charles E. Perkins
<[e-mail]> wrote:
>
> Hello folks,
>
> It's now 2011.  Mobile IP was standardized late in
> 1996, after work had already been started nearly
> ten years before.  Over two decades! -- and regardless
> of lip service to fixed/mobile convergence we still
> don't have seamless mobility in user devices across
> heterogeneous media, and standards organizations
> (notably 3GPP) are not properly taking advantage of
> what Mobile IP can do. The losers are the end-users,
> which means all of us.
>
> There are many reasons for this, but one of the
> main reasons has to do with authentication at the
> access network.  EAP in various forms is being
> utilized for this purpose, and Mobile IP is not,
> even though there has never been any reported
> failure of the RFC 5944 or RFC 4285 or RFC 6275
> (to my knowledge).  Moreover, unless there is
> something wrong with the cryptography that also
> has not been reported, these authentication methods
> enable _mutual_ authentication between the network
> and the client, not just client authentication.
>
> In order for Mobile IP to enable the real promise
> of high performance heterogeneous networking, we
> have to do some more work.  I would like to initiate
> some more discussion about this.  DMM is interesting
> in its own right, but it's not at all the whole
> story.  Moreover, with proper design, it is likely
> the supposed burden of signaling to the home agent
> can be substantially reduced.  As one simple example,
> if handovers are accomplished locally between trusted
> access agents (routers, 802.11 access controllers, ...)
> then the actual timing of tunnel redirection from the
> home agent becomes much less critical.  This is also
> intricately intertwined with authentication.
>
> If the Home Agent were recognized as a robust security
> appliance, then it could naturally sit on the network
> boundary as an IP-addressable device.  Mobile IP
> authentication could become the primary means of
> validating user access, instead of an afterthought
> to enable IP-address preservation after all the heavy
> lifting has been done a lower levels.
>
> I would like to propose that in this working group we
> should go about making this happen.  It seems to be
> important, and undeniably aligned with our working
> group responsibilities.
>
> Regards,
> Charlie P.
>
>
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