Reliable 802.1X Authentication Mechanism for the RSN

Abstract

As wireless LAN (WLAN) deployments increase, so does the challenge to provide these networks with security. WLANs face all the security challenges as their wired counterparts, and more because the medium for wireless is air. This has given momentum to a new generation of hackers who specialize in inventing and deploying innovative methods of hijacking wireless communications. Wireless attacks target loopholes in the security protocols. However, ambiguities in software while implementing the protocols can also yield such attacks. In this study we have identified a number of ambiguities in IEEE 802.1X software requirements as applied to the IEEE 802.11i Robust Security Network (RSN) and resolved it. We then developed an authentication model using the new set of requirements. The analysis is carried out using the Genetic Software Engineering (GSE) methodology, which is admired for its simplicity, its traceability, its ability to detect defects and its control of complexity.