Cryptographic identification of users over network

Abstract

In a network, identification of any user is a vital requirement before one is accorded access to the network-shared information bank or database. The database or information may itself either be encrypted or in plain language. There are various techniques, which offer this service through cryptographic techniques as well as through non-cryptographic means, each with its own attributes This paper presents a scheme which uses the identification (ID) based cryptosystem (Shamir, 1984), based on the concept of public key cryptosystem. However, the scheme works on a carefully selected elliptic curve (EC), itself defined on a binary finite field. The finite field so chosen is F/sub 2//sup 215/. The elliptic curve over which the scheme works has been self-generated and those available in the public domain have not been employed. The new scheme offers highly secure underlying cryptosystem and strong challenge-response type of protocol, ensuring complete user trust.