Group Work 6

Question 1: Form a team to identify the public locations (such as an airport, public library, or café) in your area where wireless LAN connections are available. Visit at least two locations and write a brief paragraph discussing your experience at each location trying to connect to the Internet.

The first location that we want to discuss is the cafe named Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf. It has many branches in Brunei Darussalam. The one that I am going to discuss located at Brunei Capital District, Bandar Seri Begawan along the Jalan Sultan. Once we try to access the internet, we notice that there are Wireless LAN connections available with a password protected. So we ask the staff about the WIFI password. Later, we are able to access through the WIFI.  The WIFI required our IP address just in case for security.  For a few second, we are already able to access through the internet. The connection is about 5mbps which is the fastest and expensive package in Brunei named ESPEED.

Second location is Twelve Cafe at Kiulap, Brunei Muara. It is a really high standard restaurant. This café also has WIRELESS LAN connection. The staff didn’t tell us that one password is for one user where is is very high level in security.  I did realize that when sharing the WIFI password, the other cannot use it again.  The connection was only 3.5mbps. The router was so strong as user can reach the WIFI signal outside the café.

In conclusion, the Wireless connection at the first location was very fast compared to second location. But wireless connection at was very secure when compare to first location.

Question 2: Do a research on the Web on wireless communications standards for MAN’s often called WiMAX. What is it current status of the various standards and what are the current major issues? Write a short report on what you found.

WiMAX, which stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access is a next generation open standard that seeks to serve users' increasing demands for high data throughput (broadband) services such as streaming media on the internet, live video conferencing, and mobile TV on computers as well as handsets and PDAs.

WiMAX is considered as one of the most promising 4G technologies, an IP based core network which is an open system suitable for Greenfield operators and has been deployed world over. Industry analysts judge that the spectrum allocation for WiMAX is easy and cheaper than the existing 3G technologies.

 

Some existing facts:

•         According to WiMAX forum there are 430 million people or Points-of-Presence (POPs) globally, and are on a path to nearly double to 800 million people by the end of 2010, suggesting that there is significant potential for WiMAX to transform wireless broadband communications

•         Revenue from mobile games (from 10,485m in 2009 to 17,593m in 2009) and sports (7,873m in 2009 to 9,498m in 2011) in particular is forecasted to grow significantly. This is an opportunity for WiMAX incumbents as it will allow them to create a market and achieve customer lock-in, creating a challenge to 3G/HSPA.

Major wireless service providers are already planning to roll out WiMAX, and Intel is enabling mass market adoption of WiMAX in notebooks and other mobile Internet devices similar to the way it enabled Wi-Fi in notebooks. WiMAX is a global, standards-based technology that is being adopted and deployed in many countries around the world. For example, Clear* began deploying WiMAX services in the U.S. in 2008, and over 100 carriers are currently trialing Mobile WiMAX around the world.

Authentication

A fundamental principle in 802.16 networks is that each subscriber station (SS) must have a X.509 certificate that will uniquely identify the subscriber. The use of X.509 certificates makes it difficult for an attacker to spoof the identity of legitimate subscribers, providing ample protection against theft of service. A fundamental flaw in the authentication mechanism used by WiMAX's privacy and key management (PKM) protocol is the lack of base station (BS) or service provider authentication. This makes WiMAX networks susceptible to man-in-the-middle attacks, exposing subscribers to various confidentiality and availability attacks. The 802.16e amendment added support for the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) to WiMAX networks. Support for EAP protocols is currently optional for service providers.

Encryption

With the 802.16e amendment, support for the AES cipher is available, providing strong support for confidentiality of data traffic. Like the 802.11 specification, management frames are not encrypted, allowing an attacker to collect information about subscribers in the area and other potentially sensitive network characteristics.

Availability

WiMAX deployments will use licensed RF spectrum, giving them some measure of protection from unintentional interference. It is reasonably simple, however, for an attacker to use readily available tools to jam the spectrum for all planned WiMAX deployments. In addition to physical layer denial of service attacks, an attacker can use legacy management frames to forcibly disconnect legitimate stations. This is similar to the deauthenticate flood attacks used against 802.11 networks.

WiMAX Threats

Despite good intentions for WiMAX security, there are several potential attacks open to adversaries, including:

• Rogue Base Stations
• DoS Attacks
• Man-in-the-Middle Attacks
• Network manipulation with spoofed management frames

The real test of WiMAX security will come when providers begin wide-scale network deployments, and researchers and attackers have access to commodity CPE equipment. Other attacks including WiMAX protocol fuzzing may enable attackers to further manipulate BSs or SSs. Until then, the security of WiMAX is limited to speculation.

 

Reference:

Gaddi Blumrosen (2009) The Future of Things
Available from: http://thefutureofthings.com/articles/6361/the-future-of-wimax.html, [Accessed on 20th June 2012]

Priyesh (2010) WIMAX and its future Available from: http://4gwirelessjobs.com/articles/article-detail.php?WiMAX-and-its-future-&Arid=MTE3&Auid=NjI=, [Accessed on 20th June 2012]

Joshua Wright (2006) WIMAX security issuesAvailable from: http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2006/121106-wireless-security.html, [Accessed on 20th June 2012]