Date of Award

Spring 2009

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Electrical & Computer Engineering

Program/Concentration

Electrical Engineering

Committee Director

Sachin Shetty

Committee Director

Min Song

Committee Member

Dimitrie Popescu

Call Number for Print

Special Collections LD4331.E55 S558 2009

Abstract

One of the most challenging security concerns for network administrators is the presence of Rogue access points. The challenge is to detect and disable a Rogue access point before it can cause hazardous damage to the network. This thesis proposes a statistically based approach to detect Rogue access points using a Hidden Markov Model, which is applied to passively measure packet-header data collected at a gateway router or any monitoring point. This approach utilizes variations in packet inter-arrival time to differentiate between authorized access points and Rouge access points. This approach used the inter-arrival time of a packet as a distinguishing parameter because it varies drastically for a normal activity and an intrusive activity. The main contribution of this thesis is the design and development of a Hidden Markov Model by analyzing Denial of Service attacks of 802.11 based Wireless Local Area Networks which affect the traffic characteristics like packet size, inter-arrival time, delays etc. Experimental validations demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach. This trained Hidden Markov Model can detect the presence of a Rogue access point promptly within one second with extreme accuracy (very low false positive and false negative ratios are obtained). The success of this approach lies in the fact that it leverages knowledge about the behavior of the traffic characteristics of 802.11 based Wireless Local Area Networks and the properties of Denial of Service attacks. Experiments were also performed to improve the accuracy of our I-IMM model. This approach is scalable and non-intrusive, requiring little deployment cost and effort, and is easy to manage and maintain. This research was also accepted and published in MILCOM 2008, a technical Conference held in San Diego.

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DOI

10.25777/m6yf-ws29

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