Introduction: Research Background

Authentication Problem In WiMAX

A primary standard in WiMAX (802.16) networks is that each Subscriber Station (SS) must have a X.509 certificate that will exclusively recognize the subscriber. The use of X.509 certificates makes it difficult for an attacker to spoof the identity of subscribers, adding sufficient protection against theft of service. A basic problem in the authentication mechanism used by WiMAX's is privacy and key management (PKM) protocol is the lacking in authentication of base station (BS) or service provider. This makes WiMAX networks vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks, exposing subscribers to various confidentiality and availability attacks. (Joshua Wright,Dec 12 2006)

According to this above authentication problem I will research and find out that how we can put X.509 or relevant certificate to subscriber station so that it uniquely identify the subscriber as well as provide more security to the network against the usage theft. I also have to research about the man-in-the-middle attack so that we can make it more secure and reliable. I have to research and discuss about the private key management protocol and find out the solution to replace it with another protocol or suggestion.

See Also:

Encryption Problem

Availability Problem

Other Threats