Secure Connections in Local Networks Despite Multiple Stakeholders

Computer usage authentication mostly comes in two flavors: Either as a key-value pair (name and password) or as certificates from a thrusted authority. Both approaches have their advantages and drawbacks when used for authentication of users on their computer and their computers on the Internet. However, in Industrial Internet of Things environments, when authenticating machines against machines that do not have a permanent Internet connection, this becomes an even bigger issue. In this paper we describe the insufficiencies of these classic approaches when dealing with attacks that originate inside a local network and present our methods of mutual authentication for devices in environments where multiple stakeholders are involved and a permanent Internet connection is not a given.