Moderator-Controlled Information Sharing by Identity-Based Aggregate Signatures for Information Centric Networking

Information sharing services have been provided via common servers, which not only relay messages but also sometimes moderate them. A peer can become a moderator and control the distribution of messages belonging to his private message group. However, the physical transfer of a message is usually out of the peer's control. Originator-signed signatures inherent in Information Centric Networking assure the integrity and provenance of messages exchanged among peers, which makes it possible to realize moderator-controlled information sharing in which a peer can become a moderator and control the distribution of his private message group as a trustable server. However, moderated content requires multiple signatures, which increases the size of the exchanged message and is inadequate, especially for short message services. We propose the use of Identity-Based Aggregate Signatures (IBAS) to decrease this overhead, and provide a proof-of-concept IBAS implementation for Named Data Networking (NDN). We also compare the performance of the proposed IBAS implementation with existing RSA signatures. An overhead reduction of approximately 45% to 60% compared to RSA signatures is achieved for an NDN packet in the proposed configuration. Because of the properties of the identity-based signature, this IBAS implementation is robust and works even during a disaster or when a trustable centralized server is not online.