The modeling and comparison of wireless network denial of service attacks

Abstract

Mobile handhelds with wireless access are used in numerous safety critical applications. The wireless network protocols in use are vulnerable to a wide array of denial of service attacks. We propose a formal method for modeling semantic denial of service attacks against wireless network protocols. We then use our proposed model to find a new deadlock vulnerability in IEEE 802.11. The history of published denial of service attacks against wireless protocols indicates that formal methods can contribute to the construction of robust protocols.