Patent ID: 8438388

Claim:
A method for distributing certificate revocation list (CRL) information over a communication channel within an ad hoc network, comprising: at each ad hoc node of a plurality of ad hoc nodes in the ad hoc network: receiving, from a neighbor ad hoc node in the ad hoc network, a data message comprising at least one certificate revocation list advertisement message (CRLAM) indicating the availability of CRL information within the ad hoc network, wherein the CRLAM includes an address field that specifies an address where a copy of a particular certificate revocation list (CRL) is located; determining, at each of the ad hoc nodes, based on the address field in the received CRLAM, an address of an advertising node that generated the CRLAM; determining whether the received CRLAM includes new CRL information; retrieving the new CRL information being advertised in the CRLAM from the advertising node that generated the CRLAM based on the address of the advertising node; determining, at each of the ad hoc nodes, whether a signature of the retrieved CRL is valid; storing, at each of the ad hoc nodes, the retrieved new CRL information in a CRL database of the respective ad hoc node when the respective ad hoc node determines that the signature of the retrieved CRL is valid; and updating, at each of the ad hoc nodes, a local CRLAM based on the new CRL information provided in the retrieved new CRL information to generate locally updated CRLAM; and transmitting the updated CRLAM to other neighbor ad hoc nodes in the ad hoc network.