Summary

Recommendation ITU-T X.1365 provides a security methodology for the use of identity-based cryptography (IBC) public key technology in support of Internet of things (IoT) services over telecommunication networks, including mechanisms of identity management, key management architecture, key management operations and authentication.

Traditional certificate-based security methodology involves heavyweight key management operations including certificate issuance, querying and revocation. Such systems face great difficulty in keeping up with the increasing numbers of devices connected in IoT while maintaining adequate performance.

IBC technology is another security methodology that uses an entity’s identity as a public key. An essential feature of IoT is that everything has a unique identifier (ID). Using such IDs as public keys has the benefit of no certificates being required. Consequently, an IBC security solution utilizes simpler key management, enables distributed authorities to control their own devices and scales well to both a high number of endpoints and diverse devices.