6. Security Considerations
This document describes a group key management protocol. The protocol provides confidentiality, integrity, and authentication services for group communication. Security considerations are inherent throughout this specification.
Key Security Areas
The following sections detail security aspects of each GDOI phase:
- 6.1 ISAKMP Phase 1: Authentication, confidentiality, and protection mechanisms for initial SA establishment
- 6.2 GROUPKEY-PULL Exchange: Security properties of the key retrieval phase
- 6.3 GROUPKEY-PUSH Exchange: Security considerations for key distribution messages
Each section addresses:
- Authentication mechanisms
- Confidentiality protections
- Man-in-the-Middle attack prevention
- Replay/Reflection attack protection
- Denial of Service (DoS) mitigation
- Authorization controls
- Forward access control (for GROUPKEY-PUSH)
GDOI inherits security properties from ISAKMP and IKE while adding group-specific security features for multicast scenarios.