Engineering multicast group key distribution: a review

The complex software structures and procedures to establish multicast group key distribution are analysed, with resulting performance timings and trial applications reported. Existing solutions for very-large scale group key distribution with a hierarchical virtual tree topology are engineered for commercial applications using a public key infrastructure and open source Java security libraries. To solve a major but understated problem with existing schemes, the cost of initial key distribution, privileged members are proposed. Comparison is made with existing proposals showing how the features of this proposal would impact. The paper contains review material on existing schemes, including the security flaws of some schemes.