Wireless Security: Models, Threats, and Solutions

by Randall K. Nichols and Panos C. Lekkas

Book Overview

Everybody's connected. Everybody's wired. Everybody's talking. Nobody is secure. In 2001, 90 per cent of business surveyed by the FBI reported breaches of their communication systems, showing that we... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0071380388
• ISBN13: 9780071380386
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing
• Length: 657 Pages
• Weight: 3.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 7.3" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A very good book!

I liked this book for its wide and solid coverage of many things that could be tackled from many different angles. I have discussed its content with many colleagues and customers who read it and they all had the same positive feedback about it. Mind you this is an area that is rapidly moving forward, a couple of chapters could use a 2nd edition in the near future, especially regarding the newest standards, nevertheless this book covers a lot of material and very well! I decided to write this note, because I was surprised and even taken aback by the irrelevance and unfairness of the comments from a previous reviewer (Aug.'03) purportedly from Australia, regarding the satellite security chapter. The book does not make any sweeping pronouncements on commercial non-US satellite technologies like that reviewer claims, although no one denies that the reviewer's commercial example may very well turn out to be true or not true. So what? The satellite chapter of the book is clearly written from the US policy point of view (whether you like it or not, is actually irrelevant), which at the time the book was being written (a couple of years ago), presented specific and significant export hurdles. In fact the very same chapter the reviewer has a hard time with, actually discusses the use of the RPK-encryption algorithm (a New Zealand invention) in high-end satellite products of Communicado Data Ltd (a UK company). How can that same reviewer dare say that the chapter states "there is no encryption in commercial satellite systems" and that there is no mention of foreign products? Is he reading selectively what he criticizes? Or maybe he wishfuly infers it from what he projects that is written between the lines? Or maybe he does not understand what he is reading. Most probably he did spend too much time looking desperately for something bad to say about the book. This does not lend much credibility to his review. He comes across as a man with ....an ax to grind.....Even if one takes at face value the reviewer's comment, namely that the authors allegedly did not have much knowledge on the subject, a far-fetched inference given their background, the named contributors, who have been working for the super-secret NRO, the US DOD, and the intelligence community should. I am sure that the satellite chapter would have never seen the light of the day if these people had not vetted what is being said in there. The Australian reviewer comes across as sharply biased and unfair, and most definitely with an ill-intentioned agenda against this book or its authors.Even if the authors were at fault for such a little commercial detail, in my mind it would not constitute enough ground to even come close to raising doubts about the technical validity of the rest of the content. In fact I am amazed that Mr.Owen berates such a book that comes along with truly numerous references to go and check things out by yourself, with an impressive list of contributors, and above all with a ver

Wireless Security

I was recommended to read this book by my class mate and I am stunned at its depth and quality. It gave me so much detail in my studies of wireless security that I needed for my university thesis. I am pleased that there is literature out there that will put down all the facts without any "fluff." I must truly congratulate the authors for their work. I highly, highly recommend this to anybody with a thirst wireless security. I would give it more than a 5 if I could. I am also looking forward to reading Mr. Lekkas' upcoming book.

Impressive work on a very hard-to-define subject!

The subject of security in the wireless field is a rather confusing one. It relies on an intricate web of multiple and tightly interweaved technical and scientific disciplines way beyond what the average Berkeley "kid" will ever dream to hack. One is usually not an expert in all of these areas. The field has therefore been and pretty much remains the domain of a few top-notch pros. To master the subject however does not mean that one has suddenly come up with an all-encompassing solution or a magic checklist. It rather means that one has acquired a broad and dense set of knowledge from communications theory to cryptography and from electrical engineering to network design that will allow one to apply discernment as to what may go wrong in a project and what options there are to address the issues, what may work and what may not work and above all why. Before you cook you must know what a kitchen is and what utensils are needed for what purpose.WIRELESS SECURITY is not a cookbook. It is a massive and scholary exposition of lots of inter-related material much of which cannot be easily found elsewhere and even that which can be found elsewhere will require time and money until one produces it on one's desk, like the material on stream ciphers, on voice processing, or on embedded end-to-end secure systems that transcend vocoders and network infrasrtuctures. Besides themselves, the authors have put together an impressive list of individual contributors to this book that reads like a Who's Who list from the government military and intelligence communications field and this brings an extra aura of authority and competence to this book. Many books these days are written by a self-appointed expert, usually a fly-by-night quasi-consultant, whose academic credentials at best span an evening class at a local community college and whose major technical accomplishment is that they can safely....start a C-language compiler from the command line, yet they portray themselves as undisputed experts on a cutting-edge subject. Well WIRELESS SECURITY is not one of those books. It is a heavy-duty impressive textbook that has been clearly written by professionals for readers with a broad thirst and a deep desire to understand the multiple dimensions of the problem of wireless security. It does not give answers to all your questions, in fact it will generate many more questions in your head, but it will help you form a clear idea of contexts, possibilities, ramifications and implications, and more importantly it will steer you to the right direction for subsequent research on a subject. Isn't that however what a good textbook is supposed to be all about?The book makes the reader sensitive about issues that many people (even professionals) today are simply not even aware about. It covers lots and lots of material from many relevant and seemingly remote areas, spanning from cryptography and voice processing all the way to integrated systems design, and from high-power eave

Extremely Useful!

I'm an active systems architect from Sweden working with multiple types of wireless communications devices(cellular, Bluetooth, etc.). I have been looking for a comprehensive coverage of security aspects in RF transmissions for quite some time. A colleague of mine recommended this book to me. My first reaction was surprise due to the breadth of its coverage. It gives a well-rounded view of the subject in a very scholarly fashion. It is very meticulously written, clearly by people who know what they are talking about, and it includes some interesting issues like voice processing and cryptography without ever becoming boring. It provides a great deal of references so one can pursue further and deeper study of the subjects that one is interested in. Lots of footnotes and explanations show the authors' attention and care about detail. My interest happens to be in implementing embedded integrated systems and this book provided me with ample food for thought with its original coverage of issues related to cipher synchronization in real-time wireless communications protocol stacks. To my knowledge, the subject is not covered anywhere else.Besides a couple of typos probably due to the publisher's rush to bring the book to the market, I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the area of wireless communications security.

The most comprehensive all around

The Approach:You can find elsewhere any of the issues covered by this book. But only in this book, they are presented all together in detail. Every wireless security related field is discussed and the correspondent defensive and preventive countermeasures are proposed.The Book:657+ pages, well structured into 13 chapters. Literally, hundreds of useful references, and plenty of figures, tables, and photos.The contents:- Wireless Basics- Wireless Information Warfare- Telephone System Vulnerabilities- Satellite Communications- Cryptographic Security- Speech Cryptology- WLAN- WAP- WTLS- Bluetooth- Voice Over IP- E2E Wireless Security- Optimizing Wireless Security with ASICs and FPGAs - Extensive BibliographyThe Bottom Line:As a researcher and professor of Computer Networks Security, I consider this book as a very useful reference for my students. Even if they use the book mostly to learn about WLAN, WAP, WTLS, and Bluetooth security issues, many of them (the students) have been exploring the rest of the book to improve their knowledge. As far as I know, they use particularly: the cryptographic chapters to complement the regular (Dr. Stallings) textbook, and the Wireless Information Warfare chapter to improve their general background.A unique in its kind book.