Wireless Technology Security

Wireless Technology Security

Introduction

Wireless security is one of the most fundamental types of security in today's technological world. Nearly every household and office building in America has at least one wireless network within them. Thus began a huge boom of wireless protocols and security features that built the wireless security world. However, this was not always the case. Before wireless, the world of networking was simpler. All devices were hardwired together to a central router or hub and did not run the risk of being penetrated by radio waves. Without wireless security, all wireless networks would be vulnerable to malicious attacks and run the risk of theft from the network's owners. Wireless security has spanned several decades, according to Maxim and Pollino (2002 p .20), it goes back to the World War II where it was used to decrypt and encrypt wireless transmissions. From there on, wireless networks got bigger and more advanced, and a new age of wireless security was established.

Wireless networking has been around for the past ten to fifteen years, and has only been evolving with current technology. “Wireless transmission (once the domain of amateur radio enthusiasts and the military) is now a commonplace method of data communication for cellular phones, wireless PDAs, text pagers, and, most important, wireless LANs (WLANs)” (Miller, S. 2003 p. 3). This technology has slowly made its way into most households across the nation. For example, when you sign up with Verizon©, you receive a wireless router that you can use to hook up to four devices plus any wireless device that can receive and transmit data. But households are not the only places that use wireless networks. Starbucks© coffee shops have wireless networks incorporated into their facilities and most airports have wireless lounges to search the Internet. As a result of the popularity of wireless technology, wireless security has become an increasingly important topic. Wireless security has become a necessity for desktops and laptops, as well as cell phones and PDA's.

Discussion

With wireless technology making its way into businesses and homes, a whole new wireless network standard had to be created for wireless networks. This standard was called IEEE or 802.11 which “identifies an over-the-air interface between a mobile device wireless client and base stations or between two mobile device wireless clients” (Vides, R 2002 p. 47). There are several different types of 802.11 standards including 802.11b, g, n, and finally a. These network standards each have their own limitations but improve upon one another. According to Macking and Norhrup (2008 p. 322) 802.11b is the first network type that transmits data up to 11 Mbps. G set a new standard and transmits data up to 54 Mbps, while 802.11n is able to transmit data up to 250 Mbps. Finally, 802.11a was introduced and uses a 5.4 GHz range, but it was not very popular and was eventually abandoned. With this wireless network standard put in place, a new type of security had to be created to protect wireless ...