Assured internetworking protocol performance enhancing proxy

A networking device comprising:

• one or more device side network interfaces;
• one or more network side network interfaces;
• one or more processing devices coupled to the one or more device side network interfaces and the one or more network side network interfaces;
• and
• storage media coupled to the one or more processing devices, the storage media including instructions which, when executed by the one or more processing devices, cause the one or more processing devices to:
• receive an internet protocol (IP) packet at a first network side network interface of the one or more network side network interfaces, the IP packet indicating a second device as a destination;
• determine whether the IP packet has a valid identity-based signature (IBS) by determining if an IBS included with the IP packet corresponds to a source identifier, an indication of a key generation authority, and an indication of an identity-based cryptographic (IBC) algorithm included in an extension header of the IP packet;
• if the IP packet does not have a valid IBS, discard the IP packet;
• and
• if the IP packet has a valid IBS, process the IP packet for forwarding to the second device.

A method for authenticated communication, the method comprising:

• obtaining a first internet protocol (IP) packet;
• modifying the first IP packet to form a modified IP packet, wherein modifying the first IP packet includes add an extension header to the first IP packet, the extension header including a first source identifier identifying the first device, an indication of a key generation authority, and an indication of a first identity-based cryptographic (IBC) algorithm;
• generating a first identity-based signature (IBS) using the IBC algorithm with the first source identifier as an identity input, the modified IP packet as a message input, and a private IBC key for the first device as a private key input;
• and
• sending the modified IP packet and the first IBS from a network interface towards a destination of the first IP packet.