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J Am Med Inform Assoc 12:263-268 doi:10.1197/jamia.M1681
  • The Practice of Informatics

Wireless Technology Infrastructures for Authentication of Patients

Table 2

Assessment of Approaches for Wireless Authentication

Approach for Wireless Authentication
Mobile Equipment without SIM Mobile Equipment with WIM Mobile Equipment with SIM Mobile Equipment with USIM
Wireless communications standard All systems WAP2.0 enabled GSM, GPRS, EDGE 3G
Number of keys 1 symmetric 1 asymmetric pair 1 symmetric 2 symmetric, Many asymmetric pairs
Key length n/a* Variable 32 bit 128 bit symmetric, no length limit for asymmetric
Key storage n/a WIM, USIM SIM USIM, WIM
Mechanism RSA challenge via SMS Wireless Transport Layer Security (WTLS) Cell phone authentication with shared key Mutual authentication, PKI
Authentication strength Moderate† Strong Weak‡ Strong

  • ↵* Symmetric key combined with world time called “passcode.”

  • ↵† Broadly used in VPN environments.

  • ↵‡ Short key length and compromised, not published algorithm; no authentication of the base station.

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