Protected session keys context for distributed session key management

Handoffs must be fast for wireless mobile nodes (MN) without sacrificing security between the MN and the wireless access points in the access networks. We describe and analyze our new secure Session Keys Context (SKC) scheme which has all the good features, like mobility and security optimization, of the currently existing key distribution proposals, namely key-request, pre-authentication, and pre-distribution. We analyze these solutions together, and provide some conclusions on possible co-operative scenarios and on which level of the network to implement them. Finally before conclusions we provide some handoff delay simulation results with SKC and key request schemes with corresponding example handoff scenarios with a next generation radio link layer.