Anonymity and Untraceability in Mobile Networks
Didier Samfat · 1995
User mobility is a feature that raises many new security-related issues and concerns. One of them is the disclosure of a mobile user's identity during the authentication process, or other procedures specific to mobile networks. Such disclosure allows an unauthorized third-party to track the mobile user's movements and current whereabouts. Depending on the context, access to any information related to a mobile user's location or activity without his consent can be a serious violation of his privacy. This new issue might be seen as a conflicting requirement with respect to authentication: anonymity requires hiding the user's identity while authentication requires the user's identity to be revealed in order to be proved. What is needed is a single mechanism reconciling both authentication and privacy of a mobile user's identity. The basic solution to this problem is the use of aliases. Aliases insure anonymity by hiding the user's identity as well as his relationship with domain authoriti...