A TTP-based architecture for TMN security and privacy

Abstract

It has been recently stressed [1] that the rapid development of new telecommunication services could be undermined by the lack of commercial security for the service providers and the lack of privacy for their users. Security solutions to cater for those needs will almost necessarily employ encryption techniques which are still, and perhaps more and more, subject to severe control by government authorities with respect to the protection of the public order and the national security. Security architectures which might satisfy those apparently conflicting requirements have to be proposed. Another aspect is that those security architectures should permit both the security of the telecommunications services and the security of their management services, given that the final users will more and more have access to those management services. The objective of this contribution is to show how a security architecture based on Trusted Third Parties can bring an answer to the above problem, and what would be the consequences of using TTP services to secure management systems, in particular, the implications on the specification of TMN interfaces. This work was carried out in the framework of the RACE project 2041 PRISM.