Wireless Network Security - Essay Example

As the attractiveness of wireless networks amplifies, wireless network security has grown to be debatable topic in the recent years. As organizations are relying more on high-speed wireless networks, security is a vital factor. Wireless security is a framework that emphasizes on prevention of workstations or networks from unauthorized access. An automated system known as mobile ad-hoc network (MANET) is integrated within the wireless networks to establish communication between wireless nodes or access points. However, MANET does not have centralized administration. MANET is defined as “Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) refers to a type of mobile network in which each node has the ability to act as a router, permitting adaptable multihop communications” (Mobile Ad Hoc Network. 2007). The adhoc on demand distant vector protocol (AODV) that is operated by MANET provides loopholes for the hackers to gain access to the network or the system via a wireless network. AODV is widely used due to its significant advantages such as lower network overhead with a complex algorithm. However, AODV does not maintain the database for routing information in the router. This is the area where there is a possibility of the hackers to break in the network. This paper will discuss the details associated with attacks incorporated with AODV. Moreover, other type of threats that may affect the domestic wireless network operating on an 802.11 will also be defined and discussed. Introduction MANET is constructed on multiple routers knows as multi hop communication paths, these multi hop communication paths, can be dislocated any time and in any direction. The routing protocols that are associated with MANET is categorized in to hybrid, table-driven and demand-driven routing protocols (Perkins, Royer 1999). Table-driven protocols attempt to synchronize routing information with the routing table for each wireless router. For example, Destination Sequenced Distance Vector (DSDV) and Wireless Routing Protocol (WRP) protocols fall under the category of table-driven protocols. Demand-driven protocols are associated with AODV and dynamic source routing protocol (DSR). Hybrid routing protocols interlinks with the other two protocols i.e. table driven and demand driven routing protocols. The wireless MANET network is associated with protocols that are not well designed in terms of network security, as there is no centralized administration to monitor or configure MANET. However, most of the wireless network protocols associated with MANET is designed for optimum bandwidth utilization but not for optimal security. These factors have made the wireless network vulnerable for the hackers and cyber criminals. In this competitive and evolutionary world of technological advancements, threats and vulnerabilities are a great concern. Similarly, any wireless protocol must address security issues during the design phase. The protocol must address the threat, report the threat and respond to the threat. There are five core factors that must be integrated in a wireless protocol (Sreedhar, Madhusudhana Verma et al. 2010): Confidentiality Protecting the information travelling in the range of wireless fidelity is the ultimate goal. Moreover, it is concerned with the exchange if information from one router to another. A hacker can easily gain access by interrupting the wireless transmission between wireless routers. Availability This factor is concerned with sustaining the wireless network services in order to provide maximum availability. Likewise, the security of a wireless network can be compromised by jamming signals via physical and media access layers. Moreover, these interruptions can even disrupt the physicals channels. Furthermore, a malfunctioning node in a network can also disrupt the services, as the node will broadcast signals in different directions, resulting in dividing the network and breaking the wireless fidelity cloud. Authentication This factor verifies credibility of wireless network nodes of whether they are the authentic source or an artificial source. Most probably, the hackers may replace the original wireless network node with one of their own. This may provide the hackers with unlimited opportunities to intrude in the wireless network. Integrity Integrity is associated with the originality of the transmission on the wireless network. Scientific Challenges MANET in the context of wireless communication do not address security issues, as it assumes the participation of network nodes is adequate for routing processes. However, in the real world scenario, it is not true. Likewise, MANET networks do not have centralized administration for all the available network nodes in a wireless network. A hacker can compromise a MANET network by external attack or internal attack. The external attack is associated with the manipulation of old routing information in the router. As routers are designed to store and main routing information, the hackers may broadcast wrong routing information to overload the router that may result in degrading network services (Sreedhar, Madhusudhana Verma et al. 2010). Conversely, if the hacker breaks in the wireless network, internal attack can be launched. Likewise, the attacker utilizes nodes that are already authenticated by the network and most likely are difficult to detect. For instance, digital communication in a wireless networks can be interrupted easily via Denial of Service (DOS) attacks, modifying data packets, jamming the traffic etc. Moreover, a typical wireless network may encounter eaves dropping without difficulty due to its open spectrum, as compared to wired networks. Moreover, an intelligent receiver that will locate wireless access points can achieve passive information gathering. This technique can adequately pick and disrupt data communication channels and nodes available on a wireless networks (Security Issues in Wireless Sensor Networks. 2010). Furthermore, a hacker can capture subversion of an access point in order to collect decrypted information such as encryption keys. Disconnecting the affected from the network is an issue (Security Issues in Wireless Sensor Networks. 2010). Similarly, Sybil attack can be prevented by incorporating encryption and authentication mechanisms that can protect external threats within the wireless network. However, if any intruder enters within the network, there is no security mechanism to prevent it. Moreover, if the intruder uses globally shared keys, any node on the network can be accessed. Cryptography can eliminate Sybil attacks and at the same time is not a cost effective solution. Furthermore, another solution is to equip every wireless node with symmetric key and a trustworthy base station (Security Issues in Wireless Sensor Networks. 2010). Evaluating Threats Modification Attacks Protocols that are associated with MANET wireless networks, do not consider malicious threats from intermediate network nodes that may result in breaching the network easily. Likewise, nodes that are compromised can edit or alter the routing message along with routing information. If the wireless router at the other end received wrong routing information, it may result in re directing the traffic to inappropriate network nodes, eliminating services on the network and may delay the time that is required by packets to reach destination, consequently, causing communication delays and disruptions. An example for a modification attack is the creation of a routing loop that is generated by the hacker in order to instruct the data packet to travel in a cycle, rather than sending it to the required destination (Ito, Iwama et al. 2003). Routing loops deteriorate transmission channels by utilizing additional bandwidth and network resources. Furthermore, by a transmission of false routing packets, the hackers may divert the overall traffic of the wireless network to some other wireless router or access point (Sreedhar, Madhusudhana Verma et al. 2010). Attacks using fabrication Routing protocols that are generally used within the wireless network are complex to identify in spite of receiving authenticated routing information. Consequently, the routing information that is constructed by any other user or wireless router on the network cannot be identified. Many attacks are associated with fabrication. One of them is the rushing attack that uses a malicious code in parallel to fabrication. Moreover, the rushing attack affects on demand routing protocol, as these protocols eliminate replication of messages at each wireless node on the network. Furthermore, a hacker can broadcast routing messages that may affect the complete wireless fidelity spectrum, as the nodes will discard the original router messages by considering them as replica of routing messages. Denial of Service Attacks Denial of service attacks can cause massive disruption in a typical domestic wireless network setup. Spoofing is used to masquerade within the wireless network. For instance, information sent from a wireless router contains a malicious code that may penetrate within the wireless network for possible attacks to establish a connection with the hacker or extract confidential information by storing itself on the workstation. Malicious codes are stored within the system, hidden from the user. Likewise, they are activated in parallel to the loading of operating systems. Moreover, spoofing attacks can establish a routing loop that may degrade the performance of the wireless network. Invisible node Attack Invisible node attacks are activated when a wireless router connected within the wireless network do not integrates its specific IP address to the route record field in the header of SRP (Sreedhar, Madhusudhana Verma et al. 2010). Likewise, the node becomes invisible on the wireless network, in order to attack or penetrate within the wireless network. Invisibility makes it relatively untraceable by existing security measures that may not be able to detect the node nor the threat associated with it. Rectifying Threats Providing security to the wireless network is vital. Organizations are primarily dependent on wireless networks within the organization and to some extent, as wireless networks also provide hotspots at different locations to provide connectivity for PDA’s and cell phones for there employees. Therefore, providing security for wireless networks that are gaining popularity day by day is a challenge. However, protocols providing adequate security are illustrated below: Authenticated Routing for Ad-hoc Networks (ARAN) operates on cryptographic system based on public key to eliminate all attacks that are identified. Moreover, ARAN also provides security in a wireless routing environment, where network nodes are allowed to play a role. However, these nodes are not trusted to co-operate. After testing on a publicly available wireless network infrastructure, ARAN is effective and efficient to analyze secure routes within an ad hoc wireless network (Authenticated Routing for Ad hoc Networks 2011). Establishing VPN Virtual private networks encrypt end-to-end information and make the digital channel secure. Likewise, these digital channels are invisible on the Wi-Fi network, as the hackers can only see the network gateway (Wildstrom 2008). If VPN option is not available, then feasible third party VPN providers can be contacted. Moreover, secure online transactions that are conducted on a domestic wireless network must equip HTTPS. The secure HTTP operates on a 128-bit secure socket layer and encrypts all the information from the web browser to the web server. Network Key For securing, a home based or public based wireless network, IEEE 802.11 design specification illustrates that (Andrés 2010): “To encrypt traffic, the network owner or manager must first select a password, also known as a "network key." The arrangement requires one password per network, shared among all of the users whether the owner has selected the less secure, outdated WEP or the more secure WPA or WPA2” Conclusion The discussion concludes that there are still possibilities of intelligent attacks, as not all the protocols operated on MANET and 802.11 do not address security issues. Likewise, there protocols are not designed to address the security challenges. However, ARAN, network keys, and VPN provide better security as compared to other routing protocols. Moreover, Secure HTTP also encrypts the information channel and hides the information that is transmitted. Therefore, there is still a requirement to establish a centralized security framework for the set of protocols that are configured within the wireless network. References Mobile Ad Hoc Network. 2007. Network Dictionary, , pp. 314-314. PERKINS, C.E. and ROYER, E.M., 1999. Ad-hoc on-demand distance vector routing IEEE WORKSHOP ON MOBILE COMPUTING SYSTEMS AND APPLICATIONS, , pp. 90; 90-100; -100 SREEDHAR, C., MADHUSUDHANA VERMA, S. and KASIVISWANATH, N., 2010. Potential Security Attacks on Wireless Networks and their Countermeasure. International Journal of Computer Science & Information Technology, 2(5), pp. 76-89. Security Issues in Wireless Sensor Networks. 2010. International Journal of Online Engineering, 6(4), pp. 26-30. ITO, H., IWAMA, K., OKABE, Y. and YOSHIHIRO, T., 2003. Avoiding Routing Loops on the Internet. Theory of Computing Systems, 36(6), pp. 597-609. Authenticated Routing for Ad hoc Networks 2011. RSS for Authenticated Routing for Ad hoc Networks, . WILDSTROM, S.H., 2008. Public Wi-Fi: Be Very Paranoid. Bloomberg, L.P. ANDRÉS, S., 2010. How to Stay Safe on Public Wi-Fi. PC World, 28(7), pp. 94-96. Read More