Overview

Examines the security mechanisms and protocols for thwarting attacks on emerging wireless networks including wireless LANs, sensor networks, mobile ad hoc networks and wireless cellular standards. Specifically, examines security primitives including confidentiality assurance, integrity and authentication in the context of different wireless networks. Block and stream ciphers, such as the Data Encryption Standard, Advanced Encryption Standard and RC4 are studied. Evaluates Public key cryptography (PKC) and its associated algorithms (RSA). Discusses approaches to integrity assurance in the form of cryptographic hash functions. Examines all of the above factors in the context of a variety of network topologies to include personal area networks (PAN-Security in Bluetooth), wireless local area networks (WLAN), and wireless metropolitan area networks (LTE and WiMax). Analyzes and compares protocol implementations such as Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) and Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA2). Also analyzes security in wireless cellular standards, including 2G (GSM), 3G, and 4G(LTE). The course studies communication vulnerabilities in wireless systems with example attacks such as Denial of Service (DoS), replay, and man-in-the-middle (MITM). Security in mobile ad hoc networks, including wireless sensor networks and Internet of Things (IoT) is also studied.

Included in Degrees & Certificates

• 296
• 297

Prerequisites

• EC3710
• EC3730

Learning Outcomes

• Describe issues in wireless security unique to communicating in the RF environment.
• Understand the concept of trust and how it applies to wireless networks.
• Discuss cryptographic methods appropriate for use in the RF environment, including AES and PKC and stream ciphers.
• Discuss security mechanisms used in GSM, 3G and 4G and identify problem areas associated with these mechanisms.
• Understand the security implementations of WEP and WPA/WPA2 and demonstrate their failings/disadvantages in the RF environment.
• Evaluate security algorithms designed for wireless sensor networks.
• Evaluate security algorithms designed for Internet of Things.
• Understand security mechanism of Bluetooth.
• Evaluate security measures for RFID.