Advancements on Authentication Methods for Transfer of Stream Data via Chaos Synchronization Techniques

Synchronization of two chaotic systems allows a two party communication system to distribute data seamlessly. Since the seminal work of Pecora and Caroll [8] many researchers have been attracted to the study of the synchronization and its applications in complex nonlinear systems [1][2][5][6][7][9][10] and [11]. As a result, chaos and synchronization of two coupled chaotic systems have become an integral part of fast mode communication. This is a direct observation since these models are able to be executed on the physical layer of a transmission mechanism. In this work, recent advancements on authentication methods upon data transmitted in the above manner are discussed [4]. Authentication is a protocol enabling one to authenticate the sender of the data and hence to either accept or reject the data received. This is a crucial element in receiving data since malicious codes (i.e. computer viruses) could be easily injected onto live stream data. Upon constructing a synchronization mechanism for two chaotic systems, parameters utilized within the scheme should be carefully selected in order to be the main “ingredient” to authenticate incoming data. Then, available cryptographic primitives could be employed in order to properly construct a viable authentication protocol. In this article, we present the authentication protocol as well as results on the robustness of different asymmetric schemes when deployed.