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Re: [802.21] Security SG: Definition of Administrative Domain



Hi Gabor,

If my understanding is correct, HOKEY WG is trying to define their
notion of domain because they define a domain-specific root key (DSRK)
and they need to have a clear definition on what "domain" is in term
of DSRK.

Since we (802.21 Security SG) are not defining DSRK, we don't need to
define a key management domain at least in the course of "study", and
a more general term "administrative domain" would be sufficient, IMO.

Also, end systems in the same administrative domain are assumed to
interoperate with mutual trust even if the administrative domain is
defined in terms of AAA operation.  Otherwise, how a NAS in a AAA
realm can trust the authorization result sent by the AAA server in the
same AAA realm?  Note that existence of mutual trust still requires
mutual authentication between end systems in the same administrative
domain.

Regards,
Yoshihiro Ohba


On Mon, Dec 10, 2007 at 11:23:17AM -0600, Gabor.Bajko@nokia.com wrote:
> Yoshi,
> 
> Based on the discussions we had in HOKEY last week, I am not sure this
> is a good definition. 
> 
> Why would we want to say that end systems are assumed to interoperate
> with mutual trust? That is not true today in a AAA based administrative
> domain. Besides, we probably should look at the definition of a 'key
> management domain', rather than an 'administrative domain'. 
> 
> It may be easier to find a definition if we scope it down to the
> context.
> 
> - gabor
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ext Yoshihiro Ohba [mailto:yohba@TARI.TOSHIBA.COM] 
> Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 6:16 PM
> To: STDS-802-21@LISTSERV.IEEE.ORG
> Subject: [802.21] Security SG: Definition of Administrative Domain
> 
> We have a home work raised in November meeting to revise the definition
> of Administrative Domain (AD).
> 
> RFC 1136 has a good definition of AD.  Here is revised definition of AD
> with borrowing and slightly modifying text in RFC 1136:
> 
> "
> Administrative Domain
> 
>   A collection of End Systems, Intermediate Systems, and authority.
>   The components which make up the domain are assumed to interoperate
>   with a significant degree of mutual trust among themselves, but
>   interoperate with other Administrative Domains in a mutually
>   suspicious manner.
> 
>   Administrative Domains can be organized into a loose hierarchy
>   that reflects the availability and authoritativeness of
>   authentication and authorization information.  This hierarchy does
>   not imply administrative containment, nor does it imply a strict
>   tree topology.
> "
> 
> I believe this addresses all issues related to administrative domain
> definition.
> 
> Comments?
> 
> Yoshihiro Ohba
> 
> 
>