[ Last changed: 20th March 1997 ]
Authentication protocols have been the subject of academic interest for some 15 years, following the seminal paper of Needham and Schroeder. While such protocols have been widely discussed and implemented, and indeed international standards for these protocols have been, and are being, developed, the explicit objectives of an authentication protocol have rarely been subjected to critical examination. Even those formal logics devised to examine these protocols often partially dodge the issue of the objectives of an authentication protocol, except typically to deal with the establishment of shared secret keys.
In this seminar, the latest ISO draft standards covering authentication protocols are considered in the context of a discussion of the objectives of these protocols. This discussion provides useful insights into the applicability of protocols for particular applications.