Methods and software program product for mutual authentication in a communications network

Abstract From the Canadian patent

A method for mutual authentication between a subscriber and a communications network, in which a random number is generated at the subscriber's terminal (1, 1~). The random number is sent to the authentication sub-system (6 6~) , managing the authentication of the subscriber for the access to the network e.g. together with a subscriber's identifier. At the authentication subsystem, the identifier is used for checking the credentials of the subscriber. During the authentication process, parameters related to the subscriber's identifier are generated at the authentication sub-system and the random , number is encrypted using a session key formed using such parameters. The encrypted …