(k, n) threshold distributed key exchange for HIP based internet of things

Host Identity Protocol (HIP) emerges as the most suitable identification protocol for the Internet of Things. HIP not only provides identifier/locator split but also a key agreement procedure named HIP Base Exchange, which bootstraps security associations between HIP peers. However, the heterogeneous and decentralized nature of IoT architecture, coupling resource-constrained networks with powerful Internet, impedes the use of HIP Base Exchange on small devices due to its computationally expensive cryptographic operations. In this paper, we propose a (k, n) threshold distributed key exchange protocol designed to reduce the requirements of HIP Base Exchange, in order to be supported by resource-constrained nodes.