This part of ISO/IEC 9798 specifies four entity authentication mechanisms based on manual data transfer between authenticating devices. As described in Annexes A and B, these mechanisms may be used to support key management functions; guidance on secure choice of parameters for the mechanisms is provided in Annex C.

Such mechanisms may be appropriate in a variety of circumstances. One such application occurs in personal networks, where the owner of two personal devices capable of wireless communications wishes them to perform an entity authentication procedure as part of the process of preparing them for use in the network.