Plenary Lecture
WiFi Channel Attack Detection and Avoidance; A Markov Chain Approach
Professor Tarek Saadawi
Center for Information Networking & Telecommunications (CINT)
Dept. of Electrical Engineering
City University of New York, City College
USA
E-mail: saadawi@ccny.cuny.edu
Abstract: Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) employing IEEE 802.11 DCF protocols is the most widely used wireless local access technique. The goal of this presentation is to introduce the problem of channel capturing by a hacker, a detection technique, and an avoidance strategy to reduce the impact of the hacker on the network. IEEE 802.11 DCF employs CSMA/CA mechanism to reduce the probability of collisions inside the network.
The proposed solution is to mathematically calculate the maximum achievable throughput using Markov Chain modeling and monitor each node to detect if any node is capturing the channel and utilizing all the bandwidth between that node and the AP (access point) with the presence of other innocent nodes. The theoretical network throughput will be derived using two dimensional Markov Chain to determine the network capacity. Results obtained by the theoretical computations will be validated by network simulation to determine the baseline for the maximum achievable throughput in the network under fair conditions where all nodes follow the standards. An approach is proposed to enable all the nodes in IEEE 802.11 network with a mechanism to detect and identify the malicious nodes in a distributed environment. Results are presented to prove the effectiveness and feasibility of the proposed algorithm.
Brief Biography of the Speaker: Dr Saadawi has been with the Electrical Engineering Department, The City University of New York, City College, since 1980, where he currently directs the Center of Information Networking and Telecommunications (CINT) at CCNY. His current research interests are wireless networks, multimedia networks, AD-HOC networks and network security. He has published extensively in the area of telecommunications networks. He is a co-Editor of Cyber Infrastructure Protection, published by Strategic Studies Institute, 2010, lead-author of a text book on telecommunications, and the lead author of Egypt Telecommunications Infrastructure Master Plan, funded by USAID.
Dr Saadawi a former Chairman of IEEE Computer Society of New York City He has received IEEE Region 1 Award. Dr Saadawi has been a member of the Consortium Management Committee of ARL Consortium on Telecommunication (2001- 2011), and has been on US Dept of Commerce delegation to the Algerian Government addressing Rural Communications, April 2007.