Communications of the ACM
Researchers Find Way to Measure Effect of Wi-Fi Attacks
Credit: Courtesy of North Carolina State University
North Carolina State University (NCSU) researchers have developed a way to measure how badly a Wi-Fi network would be disrupted by different kinds of attacks.
"This information can be used to help us design more effective security systems, because it tells us which attacks--and which circumstances--are most harmful to Wi-Fi systems," says NCSU professor Wenye Wang.
The researchers studied two generic Wi-Fi attack models. One model involved persistent attacks, which continue nonstop until they are identified and disabled. The second model involved intermittent attacks, which block access periodically, making it more difficult to disable.
The researchers compared how these attacks performed under differing scenarios, such as with different numbers of users. They developed order gain, a metric that measures the impact of the attack strategies, comparing the probability of an attacker having access to the Wi-Fi network to the probability of a legitimate user having access to the network. The researchers found that countermeasures should focus on continuous attacks on networks with many users, because that scenario has the largest order gain.
From NCSU News
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2011 Information Inc. 
, Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found