MSA-SDMN: multicast source authentication scheme for multi-domain software defined mobile networks

Multicast services provide an efficient way of conserving resources and reducing network traffic for multicast senders. However, ensuring security, particularly source authentication, is crucial for applications such as online news, IPTV, video streaming, and stock quote distribution. Previous research efforts have attempted to provide source authentication for multicast applications, but they often struggle to handle the dynamic nature of multicast mobile receivers and multi-domain networks. This paper provides an analysis of research conducted over 22 years on source authentication mechanisms with non-repudiation. Most of these mechanisms fail to address the dynamic nature of mobile users and multi-domain networks. To address this issue, a new multicast source authentication scheme for multi-domain Software Defined Mobile Networks (SDMN) is proposed. This approach uses the global view of the controller in SDMN to operate in dynamic environments, provide non-repudiation, and tolerate packet loss. Simulation results indicate that the proposed mechanism uses resources efficiently, reduces communication and delay overhead, and performs well in multi-domain and dynamic networks.