[Analysis of Wireless Network Security Protocols: An evaluation of WPA2]

by

ABSTRACT

Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are being widely deployed in military, healthcare, and commercial environments. Because sensor networks pose unique challenges, traditional security methods, commonly used in enterprise networks, cannot be directly applied. In particular, broadcast source authentication is a critical security requirement in wireless sensor networks. Therefore, formal validation of source authentication protocols in wireless sensor networks has become an important research topic. The Multi-Level-µTESLA, Staggered Multi-Level-µTESLA, and Bloom Filter based source authentication protocols are potential candidates for source authentication in WSNs but so far, there has been no formal validation of those protocols. In this paper, we aim to formally verify and model those three authentication protocols using the AVISPA model-checking tool and HLPSL language. We show that those protocols can safely be used for source authentication. We also show that those three protocols exhibit also some DoS attack problems which are hard to eliminate.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACTII

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION3

Aims of the Study3

Objectives of the Study3

Research Question3

Background Of The Study4

Platform AVISPA5

Discussion17

CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW27

AVISPA Model Checker38

CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY51

MobiSEC: a wireless mesh network security architecture51

REFERENCE52

Client security52

Backbone security53

CHAPTER IV: RESULTS & DISCUSSION57

Key distribution protocols57

Server Driven protocol57

Client Driven protocol60

Design and implementation of MobiSEC62

Comments and security enhancements64

Performance evaluation66

Experimental study67

Full-mesh topology67

Strength analysis70

Multi-hop topology71

Broadband office networking73

Simulation study76

CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION80

Future Work83

REFERENCES84

CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION

Aims of the Study

To analyze Topology-based protocols which rely on traditional routing concepts, such as maintaining routing tables or distributing especially WPA2.

To compare WPA2 to WPA in terms of Authentication capability, encryption strength, integrity Gurantee and prevention of attacks.

Objectives of the Study

To analyze position-based protocols use information about the physical locations of the nodes to route data packets to their destinations.To model and Analyse WPA-PSK authentication Protocol.

Proactive routing protocols try to maintain consistent routing information within the system at any time.

Analyse the effectiveness of WPA2 protocol in different forms of attack on wireless Networks.

Research Question

Following research questions will be inquired:

What weaknesses in the WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy) protocol led to the formation of WPA protocol to solve security issues?

What are the challenges and security vulnerabilities associated with implementation of WPA2 security protocol?

What makes WPA2 a less than perfect security protocol?

How can present security mechanism of WPA2 be improved?

Background Of The Study

WPA2

Ad hoc networking is a new area1 in wireless communications that is attracting the attention of many researchers for its potential to provide ubiquitous connectivity without the assistance of any fixed infrastructure. A Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is an autonomous system composed of both stationary and mobile devices communicating with each other via radio transceivers. While stationary devices cannot move (i.e., their physical location does not vary with time), mobile devices are free to move randomly and organise themselves arbitrarily; thus, the network's wireless topology may change rapidly and unpredictably.

WPA2 implements the basic functions of the new security standard IEEE 802.11i . WPA (Wireless Protected Access) is a wireless security solution (WiFi) offered by the WiFi Alliance to address the shortcomings of WEP. WAP is a light version of the ...