IEEE 802.11 i Security and Vulnerabilities

Despite using a variety of comprehensive preventive security measures, the Robust Secure Networks (RSNs) remain vulnerable to a number of attacks. Failure of preventive measures to address all RSN vulnerabilities dictates the need for enhancing the performance of Wireless Intrusion Detection Systems (WIDSs) to detect all attacks on RSNs with less false positive and false negative rates

Analysing the EAP-TLS handshake and the 4-way handshake of the 802.11i standard

The IEEE 802.11i standard has been designed to enhance security in wireless networks. The EAP-TLS handshake aims to provide mutual authentication between supplicant and authentication server, and then derive the Pairwise Master Key (PMK). In the 4 -way handshake the supplicant and the authenticator use PMK to derive a fresh pairwise transient key (PTK). The PMK is not used directly for security while assuming the supplicant and authenticator have the same PMK before running 4- way handshake. In this paper, the EAP-TLS handshake and the 4-way handshake phases have been analysed with a proposed framework using Isabelle tool. In the analysis, we have found a new Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack in the 4-way handshake. The attack prevents the authenticator from receiving message 4 after the supplicant sends it out. This attack forces the authenticator to re-send the message 3 until time out and subsequently to de-authenticate supplicant. This paper has proposed improvements to the 4-way handshake to avoid the Denial-of-Service attack

Energy Efficient Security Framework for Wireless Local Area Networks

Wireless networks are susceptible to network attacks due to their inherentvulnerabilities. The radio signal used in wireless transmission canarbitrarily propagate through walls and windows; thus a wireless networkperimeter is not exactly known. This leads them to be more vulnerable toattacks such as eavesdropping, message interception and modifications comparedto wired-line networks. Security services have been used as countermeasures toprevent such attacks, but they are used at the expense of resources that arescarce especially, where wireless devices have a very limited power budget.Hence, there is a need to provide security services that are energy efficient.In this dissertation, we propose an energy efficient security framework. Theframework aims at providing security services that take into account energyconsumption. We suggest three approaches to reduce the energy consumption ofsecurity protocols: replacement of standard security protocol primitives thatconsume high energy while maintaining the same security level, modification ofstandard security protocols appropriately, and a totally new design ofsecurity protocol where energy efficiency is the main focus. From ourobservation and study, we hypothesize that a higher level of energy savings isachievable if security services are provided in an adjustable manner. Wepropose an example tunable security or TuneSec system, which allows areasonably fine-grained security tuning to provide security services at thewireless link level in an adjustable manner.We apply the framework to several standard security protocols in wirelesslocal area networks and also evaluate their energy consumption performance.The first and second methods show improvements of up to 70% and 57% inenergy consumption compared to plain standard security protocols,respectively. The standard protocols can only offer fixed-level securityservices, and the methods applied do not change the security level. The thirdmethod shows further improvement compared to fixed-level security by reducing(about 6% to 40%) the energy consumed. This amount of energy saving can bevaried depending on the configuration and security requirements

DNA-based client puzzle for WLAN association protocol against connection request flooding

In recent past, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) has become more popular because of its flexibility. However, WLANs are subjected to different types of vulnerabilities. To strengthen WLAN security, many high security protocols have been developed. But those solutions are found to be ineffective in preventing Denial of Service (DoS) attacks. A ‘Connection Request Flooding’ DoS (CRF-DoS) attack is launched when an access point (AP) encounters a sudden explosion of connection requests. Among other existing anti CRF-DoS methods, a client puzzle protocol has been noted as a promising and secure potential solution. Nonetheless, so far none of the proposed puzzles satisfy the security requirement of resource-limited and highly heterogeneous WLANs. The CPU disparity, imposing unbearable loads on legitimate users, inefficient puzzle generation and verification algorithms; the susceptibility of puzzle to secondary attacks on legitimate users by embedding fake puzzle parameters; and a notable delay in modifying the puzzle difficulty – these are some drawbacks of currently existing puzzles. To deal with such problems, a secure model of puzzle based on DNA and queuing theory is proposed, which eliminates the above defects while satisfying the Chen puzzle security model. The proposed puzzle (OROD puzzle) is a multifaceted technology that incorporates five main components include DoS detector, queue manager, puzzle generation, puzzle verification, and puzzle solver. To test and evaluate the security and performance, OROD puzzle is developed and implemented in real-world environment. The experimental results showed that the solution verification time of OROD puzzle is up to 289, 160, 9, 3.2, and 2.3 times faster than the Karame-Capkun puzzle, the Rivest time-lock puzzle, the Rangasamy puzzle, the Kuppusamy DLPuz puzzle, and Chen's efficient hash-based puzzle respectively. The results also showed a substantial reduction in puzzle generation time, making the OROD puzzle from 3.7 to 24 times faster than the above puzzles. Moreover, by asking to solve an easy and cost-effective puzzle in OROD puzzle, legitimate users do not suffer from resource exhaustion during puzzle solving, even when under severe DoS attack (high puzzle difficulty)

Practical privacy enhancing technologies for mobile systems

Mobile computers and handheld devices can be used today to connect to services available on the Internet. One of the predominant technologies in this respect for wireless Internet connection is the IEEE 802.11 family of WLAN standards. In many countries, WLAN access can be considered ubiquitous; there is a hotspot available almost anywhere. Unfortunately, the convenience provided by wireless Internet access has many privacy tradeoffs that are not obvious to mobile computer users. In this thesis, we investigate the lack of privacy of mobile computer users, and propose practical enhancements to increase the privacy of these users. We show how explicit information related to the users' identity leaks on all layers of the protocol stack. Even before an IP address is configured, the mobile computer may have already leaked their affiliation and other details to the local network as the WLAN interface openly broadcasts the networks that the user has visited. Free services that require authentication or provide personalization, such as online social networks, instant messengers, or web stores, all leak the user's identity. All this information, and much more, is available to a local passive observer using a mobile computer. In addition to a systematic analysis of privacy leaks, we have proposed four complementary privacy protection mechanisms. The main design guidelines for the mechanisms have been deployability and the introduction of minimal changes to user experience. More specifically, we mitigate privacy problems introduced by the standard WLAN access point discovery by designing a privacy-preserving access-point discovery protocol, show how a mobility management protocol can be used to protect privacy, and how leaks on all layers of the stack can be reduced by network location awareness and protocol stack virtualization. These practical technologies can be used in designing a privacy-preserving mobile system or can be retrofitted to current systems

A Novel WLAN Client Puzzle against DoS Attack Based on Pattern Matching

Despite the popularity of 802.11 based networks, they suffer several types of DoS attack, launched by an attacker whose aim is to make an access point (AP) unavailable to legitimate users. One of the most common DoS attacks on 802.11 based networks is to deplete the resources of the AP. A serious situation like this can occur when the AP receives a burst of connection requests. This paper addresses this common DoS attack and proposes a lightweight puzzle, based on pattern-matching. Using a pattern-matching technique, this model adequately resists resource-depletion attacks in terms of both puzzle generation and solution verification. Using a sensible series of contextual comparisons, the outcomes were modelled by a simulator, and the security definition and proofs are verified, among other results

Wireless LAN security.

Chan Pak To Patrick.Thesis (M.Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2005.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-86).Abstracts in English and Chinese.Abstract --- p.iAcknowledgement --- p.iiiContents --- p.ivList of Figures --- p.viiList of Tables --- p.viiiChapter 1 --- Introduction --- p.1Chapter 1.1 --- Motivation --- p.1Chapter 1.2 --- The Problems --- p.3Chapter 1.3 --- My Contribution --- p.4Chapter 1.4 --- Thesis Organization --- p.5Chapter 2 --- Wireless LAN Security Model --- p.6Chapter 2.1 --- Preliminary Definitions on WLAN --- p.6Chapter 2.2 --- Security Model --- p.7Chapter 2.2.1 --- Security Attributes --- p.7Chapter 2.2.2 --- Security Threats in WLAN --- p.8Chapter 2.2.3 --- Attacks on Authentication Scheme --- p.10Chapter 2.2.4 --- Attacks on Keys --- p.10Chapter 2.3 --- Desired Properties of WLAN Authentication --- p.11Chapter 2.3.1 --- Security Requirements of WLAN Authentication --- p.11Chapter 2.3.2 --- Security Requirements of Session Keys --- p.12Chapter 2.3.3 --- Other Desired Properties of WLAN Authentication --- p.12Chapter 3 --- Cryptography --- p.14Chapter 3.1 --- Overview on Cryptography --- p.14Chapter 3.2 --- Symmetric-key Encryption --- p.15Chapter 3.2.1 --- Data Encryption Standard (DES) --- p.15Chapter 3.2.2 --- Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) --- p.15Chapter 3.2.3 --- RC4 --- p.16Chapter 3.3 --- Public-key Cryptography --- p.16Chapter 3.3.1 --- RSA Problem and Related Encryption Schemes --- p.17Chapter 3.3.2 --- Discrete Logarithm Problem and Related Encryption Schemes --- p.18Chapter 3.3.3 --- Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems --- p.19Chapter 3.3.4 --- Digital Signature --- p.19Chapter 3.4 --- Public Key Infrastructure --- p.20Chapter 3.5 --- Hash Functions and Message Authentication Code --- p.21Chapter 3.5.1 --- SHA-256 --- p.22Chapter 3.5.2 --- Message Authentication Code --- p.22Chapter 3.6 --- Entity Authentication --- p.23Chapter 3.6.1 --- ISO/IEC 9798-4 Three-pass Mutual --- p.23Chapter 3.6.2 --- ISO/IEC 9798-4 One-pass Unilateral --- p.24Chapter 3.7 --- Key Establishment --- p.24Chapter 3.7.1 --- Diffie-Hellman Key Exchange --- p.24Chapter 3.7.2 --- Station-to-Station Protocol --- p.25Chapter 3.8 --- Identity-Based Cryptography --- p.25Chapter 3.8.1 --- The Boneh-Franklin Encryption Scheme --- p.26Chapter 3.8.2 --- Au and Wei's Identification Scheme and Signature Scheme --- p.27Chapter 4 --- Basics of WLAN Security and WEP --- p.29Chapter 4.1 --- Basics of WLAN Security --- p.29Chapter 4.1.1 --- "Overview on ""Old"" WLAN Security" --- p.29Chapter 4.1.2 --- Some Basic Security Measures --- p.29Chapter 4.1.3 --- Virtual Private Network (VPN) --- p.30Chapter 4.2 --- WEP --- p.31Chapter 4.2.1 --- Overview on Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) --- p.31Chapter 4.2.2 --- Security Analysis on WEP --- p.33Chapter 5 --- IEEE 802.11i --- p.38Chapter 5.1 --- Overview on IEEE 802.11i and RSN --- p.38Chapter 5.2 --- IEEE 802.1X Access Control in IEEE 802.11i --- p.39Chapter 5.2.1 --- Participants --- p.39Chapter 5.2.2 --- Port-based Access Control --- p.40Chapter 5.2.3 --- EAP and EAPOL --- p.40Chapter 5.2.4 --- RADIUS --- p.41Chapter 5.2.5 --- Authentication Message Exchange --- p.41Chapter 5.2.6 --- Security Analysis --- p.41Chapter 5.3 --- RSN Key Management --- p.43Chapter 5.3.1 --- RSN Pairwise Key Hierarchy --- p.43Chapter 5.3.2 --- RSN Group Key Hierarchy --- p.43Chapter 5.3.3 --- Four-way Handshake and Group Key Handshake --- p.44Chapter 5.4 --- RSN Encryption and Data Integrity --- p.45Chapter 5.4.1 --- TKIP --- p.45Chapter 5.4.2 --- CCMP --- p.46Chapter 5.5 --- Upper Layer Authentication Protocols --- p.47Chapter 5.5.1 --- Overview on the Upper Layer Authentication --- p.47Chapter 5.5.2 --- EAP-TLS --- p.48Chapter 5.5.3 --- Other Popular ULA Protocols --- p.50Chapter 6 --- Proposed IEEE 802.11i Authentication Scheme --- p.52Chapter 6.1 --- Proposed Protocol --- p.52Chapter 6.1.1 --- Overview --- p.52Chapter 6.1.2 --- The AUTHENTICATE Protocol --- p.56Chapter 6.1.3 --- The RECONNECT Protocol --- p.59Chapter 6.1.4 --- Packet Format --- p.61Chapter 6.1.5 --- Ciphersuites Negotiation --- p.64Chapter 6.1.6 --- Delegation --- p.64Chapter 6.1.7 --- Identity Privacy --- p.68Chapter 6.2 --- Security Considerations --- p.68Chapter 6.2.1 --- Security of the AUTHENTICATE protocol --- p.68Chapter 6.2.2 --- Security of the RECONNECT protocol --- p.69Chapter 6.2.3 --- Security of Key Derivation --- p.70Chapter 6.2.4 --- EAP Security Claims and EAP Methods Requirements --- p.72Chapter 6.3 --- Efficiency Analysis --- p.76Chapter 6.3.1 --- Overview --- p.76Chapter 6.3.2 --- Bandwidth Performance --- p.76Chapter 6.3.3 --- Computation Speed --- p.76Chapter 7 --- Conclusion --- p.79Chapter 7.1 --- Summary --- p.79Chapter 7.2 --- Future Work --- p.80Bibliography --- p.8

Greenpass Client Tools for Delegated Authorization in Wireless Networks

Dartmouth\u27s Greenpass project seeks to provide strong access control to a wireless network while simultaneously providing flexible guest access; to do so, it augments the Wi-Fi Alliance\u27s existing WPA standard, which offers sufficiently strong user authentication and access control, with authorization based on SPKI certificates. SPKI allows certain local users to delegate network access to guests by issuing certificates that state, in essence, he should get access because I said it\u27s okay. The Greenpass RADIUS server described in Kim\u27s thesis [55] performs an authorization check based on such statements so that guests can obtain network access without requiring a busy network administrator to set up new accounts in a centralized database. To our knowledge, Greenpass is the first working delegation-based solution to Wi-Fi access control. My thesis describes the Greenpass client tools, which allow a guest to introduce himself to a delegator and allow the delegator to issue a new SPKI certificate to the guest. The guest does not need custom client software to introduce himself or to connect to the Wi-Fi network. The guest and delegator communicate using a set of Web applications. The guest obtains a temporary key pair and X.509 certificate if needed, then sends his public key value to a Web server we provide. The delegator looks up her guest\u27s public key and runs a Java applet that lets her verify her guests\u27 identity using visual hashing and issue a new SPKI certificate to him. The guest\u27s new certificate chain is stored as an HTTP cookie to enable him to push it to an authorization server at a later time. I also describe how Greenpass can be extended to control access to a virtual private network (VPN) and suggest several interesting future research and development directions that could build on this work.My thesis describes the Greenpass client tools, which allow a guest to introduce himself to a delegator and allow the delegator to issue a new SPKI certificate to the guest. The guest does not need custom client software to introduce himself or to connect to the Wi-Fi network. The guest and delegator communicate using a set of Web applications. The guest obtains a temporary key pair and X.509 certificate if needed, then sends his public key value to a Web server we provide. The delegator looks up her guest\u27s public key and runs a Java applet that lets her verify her guests\u27 identity using visual hashing and issue a new SPKI certificate to him. The guest\u27s new certificate chain is stored as an HTTP cookie to enable him to push it to an authorization server at a later time. I also describe how Greenpass can be extended to control access to a virtual private network (VPN) and suggest several interesting future research and development directions that could build on this work