An APN Authentication Model For A Secure Enterprise Wireless Local Area Network

Abstract

The Use of Wireless Networks is on the rise and many organizations are deploying WLANs to support their critical business applications. With the rising demand and use of wireless local area networks and the subsequent implementation of these networks by organizations, enterprises have been exposed to a lot of challenges and we have seen an increase in cybercrime and most of these attacks have been launched from wireless networks. The main problem addressed in this research is the poor implementation of security of wireless local area networks by enterprises. The main challenge includes there not being a model that can help WLAN implementer in the designing and the selection of security features or their configurations which make the security managers in organizations choose methods of authentication and also mechanisms for access control that are vulnerable. The research process will be in phases, the first phase will be a preliminary study where a descriptive survey on selected enterprises WLAN in Kenya and an analysis of their attack susceptibility will be done. Phase two is where a model will be designed and algorithms developed based on the results of the preliminary study. The last phase will involve coming up with a prototype of the design model, validation of the model concept and its verification. The main contribution of this research will be the generation of a simulation model that will enable network experts in enterprises to appropriately design and select good security features when configuring WLANs for their organizations.