Wireless Security and Technology

CIT 53200/ 3 Cr.

The course will provide in-depth coverage of wireless communications and security. Fundamentals and state of the art developments in the wireless security area will be included. In this course, many recent, current, and emerging developments will be discussed including advances in cellular, wireless personal networks (WPANs), wireless LANs, and fixed wireless networks. Significant details of wireless devices and corresponding security issues will be included. Many emerging challenges and solutions in wireless vulnerabilities, attacks, and solutions at various layers of the protocol stack, spanning the stack from aspects of physical communication to application and service security issues will also be included.

• Available Online: No
• Credit by Exam: No
• Laptop Required: Yes

Prerequisites/Co-requisites:

Graduate Status

Textbooks

The primary textbook will provide required background info for the course: Levente Buttyán and Jean-Pierre Hubaux, Security and Cooperation in Wireless Networks, 2008.

The following optional textbooks may provide more relevant background: 1) D. P. Agrawal and Q.-A. Zeng, Introduction to Wireless and Mobile Systems (4th edition), Cengage Learning, 2014. 2) James Kempf, Wireless Internet Security: Architectures and Protocols, 2008. 3) William Stallings, Wireless Communications & Networks, 2004.

Handouts will be distributed through Canvas and in class. Handouts are mainly based on research papers from prominent conferences and journals in wireless technology and security. Besides the reading list in this syllabus, selected current papers in ACM CCS, NDSS, ACM SIGCOMM, IEEE INFOCOM, and ICDCS will be added to the reading list.

Software

• Kali Linux

Outcomes

CIT Student Outcomes (What are these?)

(i) Explain and discuss fundamental issues, concepts, principles, and mechanisms in wireless networks and wireless security.

(ii) Analyze examples of the multiple applications of wireless communications and security.

(iii) Analyze various wireless communication platforms in selecting solutions for an application

(iv) Compare the security strengths and weaknesses of each platform discussed

(v) Apply new knowledge with hands-on experience with wireless security and wireless communications.

(vi) Prepare and integrate graduate research in wireless communication and security.

(vii) Design and implement a secure wireless network.

Topics

• Review symmetric ciphers, hash functions, message authentication codes, pseudorandom generators and discuss WEP;
• WEP and WLAN vulnerabilities: Why WEP is weak and challenges in wireless security;
• 802.11i & Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA): TKIP, AES, encryption mode and application of encryption mode in wireless networks;
• 802.1x/EAP solutions: We will discuss the key exchange and key management protocols in wireless networks;
• Kerberos and RADIUS authentication: authentication method, public-key cryptography, the SSL protocol;
• Secure routing, attacks on naming & addressing, establishing security associations;
• PPTP, L2TP, and IPSec implemented in wireless LANs
• MAC and MAC-layer misbehavior: CSMA/CA, Coverage and Exposure;
• Selective packet dropping, modification, and insertion
• Handoff, Location Management, and Channel Assignment: algorithms for handoff, location management, and channel assignment, and the security challenges in these tasks;
• Distributed trust in ad hoc environments and reputation systems
• Jamming and Cross-layer attacks