Project ID:
RFP-2008-048
Title:
Decentralized Name Assignment for P2P Systems
Summary:
Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems are becoming an increasingly important Internet service. A persistent problem with such systems is name assignment for users and resources. Most current systems either use meaningless cryptographic identifiers or rely on a central name assignment service. No system exists which allows secure decentralized assignment of human readable names.
Full Description:
Nearly all Internet applications use persistent, human-readable names for users, hosts, and services. On the current Internet, this is done using the the Domain Name System (DNS), which is a centralized, distributed system with a single root of trust. DNS Security can be used with DNS to provide secure assignments.
In peer-to-peer systems such as P2PSIP, it is useful to have human-readable, user-friendly names, but a centralized naming service is an undesirable choke point. In addition, one of the attractive features of P2P networks is that they can be deployed in settings where Internet connectivity is intermittent or even absent. Previous work in naming for such systems has either assumed that names are issued through a preexisting PKI or that no security is provided for name assignment.
The purpose of this RFP is to encourage research into naming for P2P systems that provides for secure, decentralized assignment of human-readable names. A system meeting this RFP should provide and enforce a consistent name assignment policy and should resist both denial-of-service and name-theft attacks.
Constraints and other information:
IPR will stay with the University. Cisco expects customary scholarly dissemination of results, and hopes that promising results would made available to the community without limiting licenses, royalties, or other encumbrances.
Proposal submission:
Please use the link below to submit a proposal for research responding to this RFP. After a preliminary review, we may ask you to revise and resubmit your proposal.
Create/submit a proposal for this RFP 
RFPs may be withdrawn as research proposals are funded, or interest in the specific topic is satisfied. Researchers should plan to submit their proposals as soon as possible. Submissions-to-date are reviewed at the beginning of each quarter (the first business day of: January, April, July, October).
Questions? Contact: research@cisco.com
