Security of mobile agents: a new concept of the integrity protection

Abstract

The recent developments in the mobile technology (mobile phones, middleware) created a need for new methods of protecting the code transmitted through the network. The proposed mechanisms not only secure the compiled program, but also the data, that can be gathered during its "journey". The oldest and the simplest methods are more concentrated on integrity of the code itself and on the detection of unauthorized manipulation. Other, more advanced proposals protect not only the code but also the execution state and the collected data. The paper is divided into two parts. The first one is mostly devoted to different methods of securing the code and protecting its integrity; starting from watermarking and fingerprinting, up to methods designed specially for mobile agent systems: encrypted function, cryptographic traces, time limited black-box security, chained-MAC protocol, publicly-verifiable chained digital signatures The second part presents new concept for providing mobile agents with integrity protection, based on a zero-knowledge proof system.