Date of Defense

4-10-2003

Department

Computer Science

First Advisor

Barb Secrist

Second Advisor

Dr. Bernard Han

Third Advisor

Ralph Yingling

Abstract

802.11 security is an issue that directly affects many companies and individuals today. The proliferation of wireless technologies has created a great need in terms of security for the technology. Current security standards add little or no real protection from hackers or eavesdroppers, and results in a medium that is more akin to a "party line" than a secure network infrastructure.

The IEEE has proposed solutions to these needs, and includes the use of protocols and standards such as Wired Equivalent Privacy, Vernam Ciphers, and Initialization Vectors. These attempted solutions appear at first to be valid attempts at fixing the security problems, but there are significant flaws with the proposed solutions. These flaws are reducing the possibility of an all-wireless economy, and are keeping many companies from adopting the technology.

New technologies have been proposed such as the Temporal Key Integrity Protocol and the Advanced Encryption Standard, and seek to give the 802.11 technology the needed boost in secure packet switching. This paper will identify the problems, the background of the technologies being investigated, and evaluate what should be done to fix the security shortcomings of the technology.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Campus Only

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