Using identity-based cryptography in mobile applications

Abstract: This work includes a review of two cases study of mobile applications that use Identity-Based Cryptography (IBC) to protect communications. It also describes a proposal of a new mobile application that combines the use of IBC for Wi-Fi or Bluetooth communication between smartphones, with the promising Near Field Communication (NFC) technology for secure authentication. The proposed scheme involves NFC pairing to establish as public key a piece of information linked to the device, such as the phone number, so that this information is then used in an IBC scheme for peer-to-peer communication. This is a work in progress, so the implementation of a prototype based on smartphones is still being improved.