A Technology Independent Security Gateway for Real-Time Multimedia Communication |
With currently more than 178 million users worldwide, the demand
Li F, Clarke NL, Furnell SM
on real-time multimedia communication services (e.g. VoIP, video conference)
grows steadily. However, whilst the protocols utilised in such communications
are standardised, internal aspects are not. For example, if calling parties utilise
incompatible media codecs or security mechanisms, a real-time multimedia
communication cannot be established. The latter would result in either a failure
to establish a connection or a plaintext connection that leaves the communication
open to attacks. This paper proposes a novel technology independent security
gateway for real-time multimedia communications which offers ciphering
assistance for these terminals when they have incompatible security mechanisms
and/or media codecs, allowing them to communicate in a seamless and secure
manner despite their incompatibilities. The proposed security gateway operates
across standard IP protocols and provides a flexible, scalable and robust
system that is capable of managing the ciphering requirements of a modern
communications system.