Applied Information Security for m-Commerce and Digital Television Environments

Abstract

With the emergence of convergent information devices capable of delivering multimedia content and providing a network communication independent of location, new challenges regarding the creation of secure environments for conducting business electronically have arisen. Digital television (d-TV) uses high-bandwidth connections to provide on-demand pay-per-view multimedia content and value-added services, such as electronic shopping. Mobile electronic commerce (m-Commerce) extends these new business models into a wireless world. Both technologies share similar requirements in terms of information security, as they require proper authentication, message integrity and confidentiality of business contracts and personal preferences.

This paper presents protocols and infrastructure considerations to deal with the specific challenges arising from these applications: limited computational power, simple transfer of device ownership and transfer of access privileges between devices. The security requirements of future-generation electronic commerce applications are surveyed and protocols for use with these applications are discussed. In this context, trust-based authentication mechanisms (relying on recommendations and revocations) are adopted, in order to avoid static hierarchies and the need for central certification authorities.