Towards Automated Authentication for Mobile Users in WLAN Hot-Spots
Bibliographic Entry
Jörg Ott, Dirk Kutscher; Towards Automated Authentication for Mobile Users in WLAN Hot-Spots; IEEE Semiannual Vehicular Technology Conference September 2005; 2005
Abstract
This paper presents an automated user authentication mechanism for WLAN hot-spots that is intended for mobile usage scenarios. Based upon cues from access points and hot-spot infrastructures, we detect availability of hot-spots, deduce the access method and the wireless ISP's identity, and finally perform authentication taking into account user policies. Our approach enables users to authenticate with a hot-spot within a few seconds, enabling their use even from passing vehicles. While our current implementation works with some hot-spots, we have discovered others that are not well-suited for the current scheme. As mid-term remedy, we finally suggest service announcements to inform mobile users about hot-spot capabilities. This work has been partly supported by the European Union under the E-Next Project FP6-506869.