Wireless Network Security: A Research Essay On Two Papers.

This research study requires in-depth reading and analysis of a single specific topic. This one topic can be of your choice, but the topic must have been covered in this course.

You require to take two research papers of that topic and make a small report on those two research papers.

The Importance of Wireless Network Security

Wireless networks and communication is a broad topic that basically explains communication using wireless devices. It can mainly be subdivided into main bits. One is wireless communication and the other one is communication. Wireless communication is a type of communication that is performed and delivered wirelessly (Acemoglu, Malekian, & Ozdaglar, 2016). This terms broadly defined all procedures and forms of communication that involve the use of wireless signals, wireless communication technologies and also wireless devices. Communicating wirelessly involve broadcasting of electromagnetic waves into the air. Communication is established once the receiving device captures the broadcasted signals. Communication can be defined as exchange of information between two or more devices. Communication must occur within a communication media which can be physical or wireless (Perlman, Kaufman, & Speciner, 2016). Examples of physical media include, telephone lines and fiber optic cables while wireless media include electromagnetic waves and infrared.

This report is a summary of two research papers that detail on wireless network security. one of them is “A research study of wireless Network security: A case study” by Sunita Saini and Dr. Yogesh Kumar Sharma from JJT university and the other is titled “Research on Wireless Network Security Awareness of Average Users by Paschal Ochang, Philip Irving and Paulinus Ofem”. According to this research, the security of networks is a vital requirement and must be maintained at all cost. It is mainly concerned with maintaining confidentiality, integrity and availability of data. Security can be implemented in different levels depending on the type of network (Chen, Gong, Xiao & Chambers, 2015). These levels include level one security which is the basic level and is in built into any wireless device. The second one is the level two security which uses WPA that help to provides better security and force data integrity. The finally one is level three which includes 802.11i protocols that eliminate the drawbacks of WPA/ WEP security (Pathan, 2016). To achieve handling the security issue and ensuring that the network is working efficiently, a design with well-considered factors is modified. Among the factors to include are paying attention to the allocation area of the access point. this is because the signal sent by the access point weakens with distance thus it is favorable for the users to be within the range of the signal. User identification and authentication is also an important factor to consider as it ensures the security of the network. Management of access points is paramount so as to ensure no unauthorized persons can gain access to the network. This will reduce the chances of a network attack and provision of effective ways to curb external threats of the systems (Perdomo, 2015).

Security Goals of a Network

The research methodology procedure in the papers involve three steps.

1. Data collection procedure

In order to acquire highly accurate information, questionnaires were employed during this research. Each question had been simplified into the simplest form in order to make the questions easy to understand. To back up the information obtained from the questionnaires, interviews were conducted. Some of the employees were asked questions and their response was recorded as additional information (Mao, You, Zhang, Huang,  & Letaief, 2017). Questions asked included the same as those in the questionnaire but mostly phrased differently and also some additional questions that came along the way and were relevant to the research.

1. Analysis of information obtained

SPSS software was deployed in order to analyze, test, measure and validate the information obtained in the research. By use of this tool, descriptive statistics were obtained by development of histograms, so as to graphically present the mean, skewness and kurtosis for each group of data obtained. This tool also ensured validation of the data so as to maintain accuracy of the information provided. After careful analysis of the information obtained, the results were presented in the form of a detailed report which carefully elaborated on the security requirements for a network, levels of security as well as the security mechanisms that can be employed.

According to these two research papers, the security goals of a network, include accessibility, reliability, integrity, nonrepudiation, availability, efficiency and confidentiality. Accessibility guarantees that a network can survive, denial of service attack (DOS).  On reliability, the system can be depended upon to meet the objectives set since it has minimal or no chances of failure. The integrity of the system warranties that the information sent has not or cannot be altered along the transmission media. This means that there are lower chances of the receiver to get the wrong information. Non repudiation is whereby the people involved in the processes and channels of communication are responsible for the information each of them is sending. It means that accountability of the message is guaranteed. For the availability of the network, it ensures that the resources of the network are always accessible and can be readily obtained. Once the security network issues have been fixed, the system is expected to serve its purpose effectively. Confidentiality, ensures that only the authorized personnel can access the message. It assures that even if an unauthorized person gain access to the network, they cannot be able to rely and display the message. A combination of all these goals guarantee the safety of information transferred through the network. Without considering this goals, the system is exposed to the threats and attackers may take this opportunity to strike (Chelli, 2015).

Security Mechanisms that can be employed

There are several security mechanisms that can be employed according to the research. They include:

1. Low level mechanism

This security primitive is used to secure sensor systems and it incorporates, key foundation and trust set up, security, security steering, mystery and validation, correspondence foreswearing of administration as well as versatility to hub catch. Key establishment and trust set up involves laying a foundation for cryptographic keys which happens to be the most essential part of the sensor system (Press, 2016). On the other hand, secrecy and authentication ensure that the sensor system in free of any infusion or alteration of parcels. Privacy is also key when it comes to sensor systems and therefore it is highly valued and ensured. Finally, it paramount that the sensor system uses secure routing to ensure correspondence (Xiao,2016).

1. High level mechanism

This level of security involves the use of intrusion detection systems, secure group management and secure data aggregation. Intrusion detection systems are used to detect any unauthorized access to a network. With this system deployed, it is virtually impossible to access a network without the correct credentials and not be detected. On the other hand, secure data aggregation is used to protect the base station from being overwhelmed by data which is sensed by the large and dense sets of nodes. To conclude on the high level mechanisms, is the use of security groups management. This is where hubs are accumulated together and examined as a group. These gathered hubs work together to deliver the task assigned to them (Chen, Qian, Ma, Tang, & Yang, 2016).

It is clear that wireless networks provide great potentials for exploitation. This is mainly associated with the face that they use airwaves for communication and the fact that wireless enables laptops are ubiquitous. Among the things that make wireless networks vulnerable, is rogue access points, employees using mobile devices that have no appropriate precautions and attacks like denial of services (DOS). In the research conducted in this two papers, there are several importance’s of network security that can be obtained (Fisch, White & Pooch, 2017). So as to be sure that a wireless network is completely secure, organization are required to implement effective wireless security solutions that discover and assess threats, prevent attacks and must be cost-effective as well as easy to use. Better security system for the network ensure the safety of data and information transmitted through the network. Confidentiality and integrity of information which are vital aspects are also enhanced by the security level of a network. It is therefore crucial for any organization to prioritize the practice of good network security (Gutowski & Benes, 2016). This research is therefore helpful because it provides the necessary requirements for a secure network and also elaborates on some of the features that can form the base of a good security.

Research Methodology Procedure in the Papers

Conclusion

To summarize this report, it is clear that the main goals of any network involve ensuring data integrity, confidentiality, reliability, availability, non-repudiation and general efficiency of the network. Integrity is defined as ensuring that information transmitted over the network is not altered by a third party that was not even supposed to gain access to this information and it can be obtained by the use of techniques such as data encryption. Confidentiality on the other part is protecting of this information against unauthorized persons who the information is not intended for. Reliability of a network according to the research is the capability of a network to be depended on at all time. It means that the chances of the network failure are completely or almost completely minimized. Non-repudiation guarantees the accountability of both parties involved in communication. It actually means that the sender of a message cannot deny that he/she sent the message. This technique can be mostly helpful when it comes to crimes that are committed using a network. Such records can be presented in a court of law in order to incriminated the suspect. The paper also elaborates on different levels of security. These level include high level mechanisms and low level mechanisms. Low level mechanisms can be implemented for system that have less sensitive information while the high level mechanisms can be implemented for systems that are used to carry delicate information.

References

Acemoglu, D., Malekian, A., & Ozdaglar, A. (2016). Network security and contagion. Journal of Economic Theory, 166, 536-585.

Chelli, K. (2015, July). Security issues in wireless sensor networks: Attacks and countermeasures. In Proceedings of the World Congress on Engineering (Vol. 1, No. 20).

Chen, G., Gong, Y., Xiao, P., & Chambers, J. A. (2015). Physical layer network security in the full-duplex relay system. IEEE transactions on information forensics and security, 10(3), 574-583.

Chen, M., Qian, Y., Mao, S., Tang, W., & Yang, X. (2016). Software-defined mobile networks security. Mobile Networks and Applications, 21(5), 729-743.

Fisch, E. A., White, G. B., & Pooch, U. W. (2017). Computer system and network security. CRC press.

Gutowski, G. J., & Benes, S. J. (2016). U.S. Patent No. 9,325,737. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Mao, Y., You, C., Zhang, J., Huang, K., & Letaief, K. B. (2017). A survey on mobile edge computing: The communication perspective. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 19(4), 2322-2358.

Pathan, A. S. K. (Ed.). (2016). Security of self-organizing networks: MANET, WSN, WMN, VANET. CRC press.

Perdomo, J. (2015). U.S. Patent Application No. 14/659,151.

Perlman, R., Kaufman, C., & Speciner, M. (2016). Network security: private communication in a public world. Pearson Education India.

Press, C. R. C. (2016). Wireless sensor networks: Current status and future trends. CRC press.

Xiao, Y. (Ed.). (2016). Security in sensor networks. CRC Press.