| 摘要 |
A mobile terminal (10), such as a mobile terminal in a cellular telecommunication network, wishing to establish secure wireless telecommunication with a server (12), sends a wireless request (A) to the server for its public key. The server (12) assembles a certificate chain comprising its public key authenticated by one or more certificates from one or more trusted Certificate Authorities. The server (12) transmits the certificate chain by a wired link (E) direct to a revocation server (20) which establishes the current validity of the authenticating certificate in the certificate chain. Upon successful verification, the certificate chain signed by the certificate of the revocation server (20) is transmitted wirelessly (F) to the mobile terminal (10) which then checks the authenticity of the authenticating certificate using root certificates which it holds. There is thus only one wireless communication of the certificate chain to the mobile terminal. In a modification, an intermediate or proxy unit can be provided which receives the certificate chain from the server (12) by a wired link and transmits this, by another wired link, to the revocation server (20). Upon successful verification, the certificate chain, signed by the revocation server's certificate, is transmitted back to the proxy unit which then transmits it wirelessly to the mobile terminal. The use of the proxy unit avoids any alteration to the normal operation of the server (12). Again, there is only one wireless communication of the certificate chain to the mobile terminal. |
