Secure Naming for a Network of Information

Abstract

Several projects propose an information-centric approach to the network of the future. Such an approach makes efficient content distribution possible by making information retrieval host-independent and integrating into the network storage for caching information. Requests for particular content can, thus, be satisfied by any host or server holding a copy. The current security model based on host authentication is not applicable in this context. Basic security functionality must instead be attached directly to the data and its naming scheme. A naming scheme to name content and other objects that enables verification of data integrity as well as owner authentication and identification is here presented. The naming scheme is designed for flexibility and extensibility, e.g., to integrate other security properties like access control. At the same time, the naming scheme offers persistent IDs even though the content, content owner and/or owner's organizational structure, or location change. The requirements for the naming scheme and an analysis showing how the proposed scheme fulfills them are presented. Experience with prototyping the naming scheme is also discussed. The naming scheme builds the foundation for a secure information-centric network infrastructure that can also solve some of the main security problems of today's Internet.

Information-Centric Networking: Evaluation and Security Considerations

“…For dynamic content, NetInf can use, e.g., signed manifests. For more details on NetInf security, see [Dannewitz10].…”

A Survey on Naming, Name Resolution and Data Routing in Information Centric Networking (ICN)

“…This public-private key pair is taken as a binding to the content or an information object. The basic naming structure of NetInf [42] Every part in the structure can be considered as a hash which then allows for self-certification. In addition to that it also allows different type of a string data type therefore allowing the normal Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) [39].The NetInf requires that, a subscription have to match with the publication only if the actual name on the network is found to be similar with the matching pair between that of the subscriber and a publisher otherwise an information object will seem to be missing.…”

Popularity and gain based caching scheme for information-centric networks

“…In order to solve these problems, researchers have focused attention on research of new Internet architecture [2]. Information-centric networks (ICN) emerges at the right moment and has received extensive research and development, among which; the respective schemes under this background include the contentcentric networking (CCN)/ named-data networking (NDN) [3], data-oriented network architecture (DONA) [4], NetInf [5], PDX [6], etc. In ICN, each node is equipped with a built-in cache, and its core idea is that storing content through internal routers of the network, then the user requests forward in the network.…”