IMS security for femtocells

摘要

A mobile station can be authenticated by, for example, sending a challenge to a mobile station, and receiving a first authentication response from the mobile station through a wireless link, the first authentication response being generated based on the challenge and an authentication key stored at the mobile station. A second authentication response is generated based on the first authentication response. The second authentication response is provided to an IMS network for authenticating the mobile station to enable the mobile station to access the IMS network. In some examples, an authentication response of the mobile station is carried in an SIP message sent from the femtocell to a server that can authenticate the mobile station or forward the authentication response to another server that can authenticate the mobile station. Authentication of the mobile station can be performed as an integrated part of or separate from a registration process.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
sending a challenge from a first device to a mobile station, the first device operating as a bridge between the mobile station and an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) network that includes a home subscriber server, in which the IMS network is configured to use an authentication protocol to establish security associations with mobile stations, and the mobile station is not compatible with the authentication protocol used by the IMS network; at the first device, receiving a first authentication response from the mobile station through a wireless link, generating a secret key based on the first authentication response, and generating a second authentication response based on the secret key, in which the first authentication response is generated based on the challenge and an authentication key stored at the mobile station; and providing the second authentication response to the IMS network for authenticating the mobile station to enable the mobile station to access the IMS network, in which the second authentication response is generated by the first device based on the secret key that is generated by the first device based on the first authentication response provided by the mobile station.