Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Summary
We have entered the era of wireless networks. By now, the number of wireless phones has superseded that of wired ones. Wireless LANs are routinely used by millions of nomadic users. Wireless devices have become commonplace in offices, private homes, factories, and hospitals. And technologists promise us a world of ubiquitous computing, in which myriads of tiny, untethered sensors and actuators will communicate with each other, promptly taking care of our various needs and wishes.
In addition to this pervasiveness, we are witnessing a change of paradigm: initially, wireless devices had limited or no programmability and were managed (and secured) in a highly centralized fashion. Today, high-tier wireless end-systems are full-fledged personal computers and take an increasingly active role in the networking mechanisms. In the extreme case of multi-hop ad hoc networks, the end-systems are the network.
Unfortunately, this evolution is creating new vulnerabilities. Even existing wireless networks (and especially wireless LANs) exhibit a number of security weaknesses, some of which have been painstakingly fixed a posteriori. It is now clear that the security solutions devised for wired networks cannot be used as such to protect the wireless ones. An additional problem is that the frenzy to commercialize quickly new products and new services is in contradiction with the design of a well-thought (and possibly standardized) security architecture.
This textbook aims at preventing ubiquitous computing from becoming a pervasive nightmare. It contains a thorough description of existing and envisioned mechanisms devised to thwart misdeeds against wireless networks.
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- Security and Cooperation in Wireless NetworksThwarting Malicious and Selfish Behavior in the Age of Ubiquitous Computing, pp. xi - xvPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2007