Survey of Security Requirements, Attacks and Network Integration in Wireless Mesh Networks

Abstract

Nowadays, security is considered as one of the most critical parameter for the acceptance of any wireless networking technology. Nevertheless, security in wireless mesh network (WMN) is still in its infancy as little attention has been rendered to this topic by the research community. So far the security issue in wireless mesh networking has rarely been addressed. As entire security of the network is as strong as the weakest component, integration of security mechanisms of heterogeneous wireless networks in the open wireless network environment has paramount significance. In this paper, we analyze the security-related characteristics, the fundamental security requirements and possible security attacks of wireless mesh network. We also propose a heterogeneous wireless network integration model along with the description of security reference points at the boundaries of the heterogeneous wireless networks. Finally, a possible application scenario based on our proposed model is described.