Unifying identity management for fourth generation wireless networks

The proliferation of fourth generation (4G) networks has motivated the development of new services characterised by ubiquity and convergence. This means that the end-user can access such services from everywhere through the use of multiple networking infrastructures. Despite the benefits resulting from such services, they are intrinsically vulnerable to many spoofing attacks. Thus, a user needs to be identified and authenticated to different serving networks and service providers. The definition of different identities for the same user would be hardly manageable since it would introduce identity confusion and heavy management procedures, especially in the overlapping zones. This study proposes a unique identifer assignment and management techniques in a heterogeneous 4G environment. In this study, the authors introduce a new syntax for the temporal mobile subscriber identity and develop the associated secure identity management process. The proposed scheme, the so-called advanced identity management guarantees mutual authentication, privacy and tracking avoidance, which are of primary importance in 4G networks.