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Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 16:24:04 -0400 (EDT)
From: Christof Paar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: WPI Crypto Seminar: ;
Subject: WPI Cryptoseminar, Thursday, 5/25
Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: Christof Paar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sorry for the late notice. Christof
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WPI Cryptography Seminar
and
CCN Internship Presentation
Key Management Concepts for Secure Wireless LANs
Wai Yip
ECE Dept., WPI
Thursday, May 25
3:00 pm, AK 218
(refreshments at 2:45 pm)
One of today's hottest networking technologies is the Wireless Local Area
Network (WLAN). WLANs are rapidly gaining popularity in many of today's
networking environments. They are perfect for scenarios where nets have to
be configured and torn down rapidly. The typical communication range
between WLAN members is 100 to 1000 feet (depending on the environment).
WLANs provide flexibility and user mobility within a network environment.
As a result, they are increasingly being deployed within existing fixed wire
network topologies. Other applications of WLANs include a stand-alone
network. These are often implemented in organizations and facilities where
standard networking wiring has not been installed. Hence WLANs can also
provide substantial financial benefits by eliminating the costs of a wired
infrastructure.
Many critics disliked earlier WLAN systems because of low throughputs,
incompatible equipment and the lack of a widely adopted standard. The
advancement and adoption of the IEEE 802.11b standard paved the way for the
existence of interoperable high-speed (approx. 10 Mbps) wireless networks.
Because of their advantages, the Federal Government has an inherent
interest in deploying IEEE 802.11b WLAN technologies. But security remains
a major concern. First, since the IEEE 802.11b is a public standard, signal
detection and interception are facilitated. Second, by their very nature,
WLAN signals are designed to penetrate walls to maintain a specified
operating distance. Thus an attacker has an advantage of eavesdropping or
tapping into the network without direct access to the protected facilities.
What's more, the range from which an attacker can intercept a signal emitted
by the WLAN devices is always greater than the range that these devices can
operate. With the use of directional and high gain antennas, an attacker
can receive the same signal strengths as any WLAN device from a remote
location. The threats of eavesdropping are very real. If the WLAN is
connected to any wired (classified, sensitive or protected) networks, the
information on any of these networks could be exposed.
Resolving all of the security related scenarios for WLANs are long and
intensive tasks that are well beyond the scope of this study. Although the
WLANs may be embedded in a larger end-to-end secure network, where many of
these scenarios exists, this study only addresses the Key Management
Infrastructure/ Public Key Infrastructure (KMI/PKI) necessary to support
securing the RF link. The study focuses on addressing the Governments
security requirements in several areas. These areas include mechanisms for
delivering Type 1 key material (initial keying, re-key, Over-The-Air-Rekey
(OTAR)) to the wireless end cryptographic units (ECUs).
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DIRECTIONS:
The WPI Cryptoseminar is being held in the Atwater Kent building on the
WPI campus. The Atwater Kent building is at the intersection of the
extension of West Street (labeled "Private Way") and Salisbury Street.
Directions to the campus can be found at
http://www.wpi.edu/About/Visitors/directions.html
ATTENDANCE:
The seminar is open to everyone and free of charge. Simply send me a
brief email if you plan to attend.
TALKS IN THE SPRING 2000 SEMESTER:
3/22 Thomas Wollinger et al., WPI
How Well Are High-End DSPs Suited for the AES Algorithms?
3/29 Joseph Silverman, Brown University
Lattices and Cryptography
4/6 Adam Elbirt et al., WPI
A Comparison of the AES Algorithms on FPGAs
4/19 Gerardo Orlando, WPI
A Comparison of Modular Reduction Architectures
4/26 Dan Bailey, WPI
Public-Key Cryptosystems with Optimal Extension Fields
(MS Thesis presentation)
5/25 Wai Yip, WPI
Key Management Concepts for Secure Wireless LANs
See
http://www.ece.WPI.EDU/Research/crypt/seminar/index.html
for talk abstracts.
MAILING LIST:
If you want to be added to the mailing list and receive talk
announcements together with abstracts, please send me a short email.
Likewise, if you want to be removed from the list, just send me a
short email.
Regards,
Christof Paar
! WORKSHOP ON CRYPTOGRAPHIC HARDWARE AND EMBEDDED SYSTEMS (CHES 2000)!
! WPI, August 17 & 18, 2000 !
! http://www.ece.wpi.edu/Research/crypt/ches !
***********************************************************************
Christof Paar, Assistant Professor
Cryptography and Information Security (CRIS) Group
ECE Dept., WPI, 100 Institute Rd., Worcester, MA 01609, USA
fon: (508) 831 5061 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
fax: (508) 831 5491 www: http://ee.wpi.edu/People/faculty/cxp.html
***********************************************************************
For help on using this list (especially unsubscribing), send a message to
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