Zero-Knowledge Authentication and Intrusion Detection System for Grid Computing Security

Abstract

Grid Computing is a new technology that has emerged as a next generation computing infrastructure, due to its efficiency in solving complex and large-scale problems. Easily incorporated in many areas, this paradigm provides dynamic and heterogeneous resources and services that are spread across geographically spaced areas, which effectively enables the large collection, sharing and diffusion of data. However, security in grid computing has become an important concern, given the history of attacks and threats that have dramatically escalated in terms of speed, impact and frequency. In this paper, a security solution is proposed, based on a mutual authentication that makes use of a key exchange protocol and a zero-knowledge proof based on a commitment scheme. Moreover, an intrusion detection system based on mobile agents provided with cryptographically chained traces is integrated, in order to record the behaviors and actions on the grid resource nodes and detect malicious intruders. Finally, analysis of resistance against well-known attacks, as well as practical experiments are conducted to evaluate the security and efficiency of our proposed solution.