Security in Wireless Data Networks : A Survey Paper

Abstract

Both security and wireless communication will remain an interesting subject for years to come. They represent the need of ease of use and flexibility of communications in the computer world without jeopardizing the communicated content. This paper illustrates the key concepts of security, wireless networks, and security over wireless networks. Wireless security is demonstrated by explaining the main specifications of the common security standards like 802.11 WEP, 802.11 WPA and WPA2 (802.11i). Moreover, it explains the concept of WMAN (Wireless Metropolitan Access Network) and its security specifications. Finally, it sums up with thoughts and suggestions about wireless security, along with  a chosen example of the current proposals in wireless security.

Table of Contents:

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Security and Wireless Overview
  • 2.1 Introduction to Security
    • 2.1.1 Goals
    • 2.1.2 Symmetric and Asymmetric Encryption
    • 2.1.3 Block Cipher and Stream Cipher
    • 2.1.4 DES, AES and RC4
  • 2.2 Introduction to The Wireless World
    • 2.2.1 Wireless LAN (WLAN)
    • 2.2.2 Wireless MAN (WMAN)
  • 2.3 Security Attacks
• 3. Security in WLAN (802.11)
  • 3.1 Introdution to 802.11 Standard
  • 3.2 WEP
  • 3.3 WEP Weaknesses
  • 3.4 802.1x: EAP Over LAN (EAPOL)
  • 3.5 Security in 802.11i
  • 3.6 RSN
• 4. Security in WMAN (802.16)
  • 4.1 Protocol Layers
  • 4.2 Security Concerns
• 5. Thoughts on Wireless Security
  • 5.1 Best Practices
  • 5.2 Security Policy
  • 5.3 Security … Problem Solved?
• 6. Recent Proposals
  • 6.1 PANA
• 7. Summary
• References
• List of Acronyms