Dynamic key management schemes for secure group communication based on hierarchical clustering in mobile ad hoc networks

In Mobile ad hoc networks (MANETs), most of current research works in key management can efficiently handle only limited number of nodes. When the number of nodes is gradually increasing, they will become either more inefficient or more insecure. Therefore, how to develop key management schemes for efficiently and securely satisfying the dynamic property of MANETs is a crucial issue. In this paper, by combining the efficient elliptic curve cryptosystem, secure self-certified public key cryptosystem and secure filter technique, we construct dynamic group key management schemes based on hierarchical clustering in MANETs. Specifically, the proposed schemes will effectively renew the group key of intra-cluster or inter-cluster to achieve the forward secrecy and backward secrecy when a node/cluster-head joins or leaves a cluster/cross-cluster. In such a new way, we affirm that the proposed group key management schemes can be very useful for securing practical applications in MANETs.