A hybrid cryptosystem based on WEP for 802.11 networks

Issue title: Selected papers from the International Conference on Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, e-Business, and Applications, 2004

Guest editors: Narayan C. Debnath

Article type: Research Article

Authors: Haraty, Ramzi A.^{; *} | El Horr, Walid

Affiliations: Lebanese American University, Division of Computer Science and Mathematics, Beirut, Lebanon

Correspondence: [*] Corresponding author. Tel.: +961 1 867620 ext. 1285; Fax: +961 1 867620 ext. 1226; E-mail: rharaty@lau.edu.lb

Abstract: Wireless is the next generation networking technology. The security of such technology is very critical because its physical layer is the electro-magnetic waves that can be easily intercepted by anyone. The original security protocol for 802.11 wireless networks is called WEP (Wired Equivalent Privacy). It is a protocol that is based on symmetric-key encryption algorithm RC4 (Rivest Cipher 4). Unfortunately, this protocol had many flaws that made it exposed to many attacks. This paper presents a set of improvements for WEP, which include key management and distribution, and authentication. These improvements convert WEP to a hybrid cryptosystem, a system that is based on both a symmetric-key algorithm and an asymmetric-key algorithm.

Keywords: 802.11, cryptography, public-key, private-key, security, wireless, WEP

DOI: 10.3233/JCM-2006-6S213

Journal: Journal of Computational Methods in Sciences and Engineering, vol. 6, no. s2, pp. S359-S377, 2006