Factors Impacting Key Management Effectiveness in Secured Wireless Networks

<p>The security of ad hoc wireless networks has become a focal point of the military communications research community. A Mobile Ad Hoc Network (MANET) is an autonomous collection of mobile nodes that communicate over relatively bandwidth constrained wireless links. Since MANETs require no existing communication infrastructure they offer significant advantages in their scalability and flexibility. These attributes make MANETs extremely attractive for specialized application environments such as those encountered on the battlefield in emergency situations and in disaster areas. Unfortunately MANETs also exhibit significant weaknesses in security when compared to other wireless communication solutions. They are subject to localized attacks and suffer from vulnerabilities inherent to their structure and topology. The use of a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) offers a cryptographic solution that can overcome many but not all of the MANET security problems. One of the most critical aspects of a PKI system is how well it implements Key Management. Key Management deals with key generation key storage key distribution key updating key revocation and certificate service in accordance with security policies over the lifecycle of the cryptography. While traditional PKI solutions work well in fixed wired networks they may not be appropriate for MANETs due to the lack of a fixed infrastructure to support the PKI. In this research we investigate key management within PKI implementations in wireless networks to identify critical factors and best practices to secure these networks. Recommendations will be made for deploying secure MANETs based upon the research findings.</p><p>This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore you will see the original copyright references library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world) and other notations in the work.</p><p>This work is in the public domain in the United States of America and possibly other nations. Within the United States you may freely copy and distribute this work as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.</p><p>As a reproduction of a historical artifact this work may contain missing or blurred pages poor pictures errant marks etc. Scholars believe and we concur that this work is important enough to be preserved reproduced and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.</p>