Security in Short Range Wireless Networks Thesis

Security in Short Range Wireless Networks - Thesis Example To combat the security threats faced by this short range wireless communication, several techniques have been brought forward. This paper is aimed at evaluating the various threats faced by the short range wireless networks and the effective solutions to these security threats. One of the security problems is eavesdropping. In this case, the attacker ‘listens’ and monitors contents in a message being transmitted. For instance, an attacker may tune into transmissions between a base station and a wireless handset. Wi-Fi is a local networking technology that works on IEEE 802.11 standard implemented by Wi-Fi compatible devices (Davis, 2004). It is used at homes, offices and public hotspots and offer a relatively higher peak data rates than 3G systems do. However, it also creates new security threats as follows. Wi-Fi has a security problem of Evil twin APs. In this case, the hacker creates a rogue Wi-Fi access point to eavesdrop on wireless communications, which appears to be a legitimate one. As a result, wireless clients can easily connect to them, since fraudulent APs can easily advertise the same network SSID as legitimate connections. Once the victim clients connect, traffic is routed using DHCP and DNS through the evil twin, and this may lead to man-in-the-middle attacks (Lemstra, Hayes, & Groenewegen, 2010). Data interception is another security problem encountered. Eavesdroppers can easily capture data that is sent over Wi-Fi within a short distance or even longer with directional antennas. This is done using cracking tools like ElcomSoft Wireless Security Auditor that locates wireless networks and intercepts data packets. Wi-Fi also encounters denial of service attacks, where an attacker frequently sends bogus requests, premature successful/failure connection messages and other commands to Access Points that are targeted. These attacks make channels busy, disconnect