Wireless Network Communication Security

Wireless communications have evolved substantially from their early beginnings in the late 1890s and early 1900s. Over the years businesses and consumers have demanded greater and greater flexibility in where and when they work. This desire has manifested itself in a demand for wireless technologies to allow them the freedom they need or desire. The result of this has been four distinct generations of wireless technologies with each progression providing the consumer with more flexibility and greater reliability.

As consumers began to more away from the traditional wired networks, the need for security became apparent.

Communications in the wireless world are not limited to traversing the wires upon which they once flowed. Now communications are available to anyone willing and capable of intercepting them (Swaminatha and Elden). Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) GSM provides for digital use only and was not engineered with analog backwards compatibility in mind.

The GSM has various types of signal control channels that carry systems and paging information, and coordinates access like control channels on analog systems.

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The GSM digital control channels have extended capabilities as compared to analog counterparts, offering features such as broadcast message paging, extended sleep mode, and various others. Since the GSM control channels use one or more time slots, they typically can coexist on a single radio channel with other time slots used for voice communication.

Potentially, voice channels can either be full rate or half rate. Full rate GSM systems assign only one time slot per frame to each user, each allowing eight simultaneous users per radio channel.

GSM was engineered to easily accommodate any future half-rate speech coder, which is expected to emerge within the next couple years. With a half-rate GSM system only one time slot is assigned to every other frame, thereby potentially allowing a maximum of up to 16 users at once per channel.

A GSM carrier bit rate is 270 Kbps allowing each less than one-eighth of the total capacity due to synchronization bits and other non informational material (Swaminatha and Elden). Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) is a concerted attempt to develop and implement a standard for communicating information between wireless devices and the Internet. WAP has enjoyed fairly broad industry support, with major contributions from manufacturers Ericsson, Motorola, Nokia and Phone. com. WAP was promulgated to; improve productivity and service.

Real-time information is available anytime, anywhere within the organization, greatly enhancing workforce flexibility and mobility. Improve infrastructure installation speed, simplicity, and costs. Eliminate pulling cable through conduit, walls, and ceilings. Wi-Fi Local Area Networks A Wi-Fi network provides connections among computers in a small area (e. g. , inside a house or inside a store). To provide Wi-Fi Internet access, an owner purchases and installs a device known as Wi-Fi access point. An access point attaches to the conventional wired Internet.

In essence, an access point acts like a router: it relays packets between the wireless network and the wired network (Nichols and Lekkas). Most laptop computers now include a Wi-Fi NIC allows the laptop to obtain Internet access when the laptop is sufficiently close to an access point. Businesses such as coffee shops provide free Wi-Fi access as a way to entice customers – while on the premises; a costumer can use a laptop computer to access the Internet. Other businesses (e. g. , airports) offer Wi-Fi access, but require a customer to pay a fee for the service (Comer). Third-Generation Wireless (3G)

Telephone companies worldwide have responded to the demand for Internet services by devising their own data transmission scheme, known as 3rd-Generation wireless or 3G wireless. 3G telephones include a screen that can display text or graphics and the phone company has planned many data services. Although 3G wireless builds on cellular telephone technology rater than an Internet technology, 3G services are interconnected with the Internet. Thus, it is possible to have email messages forwarded to a 3G telephone or to accept a short message from a 3G phone and send it across the Internet (Swaminatha and Elden).