Print

Comment

Email

Digg

Del.icio.us

Reddit

The advent of any new fangled technology is marked by new promises and challenges. Be it the customer, operator or investor, everyone aims to pocket huge profits through these technologies. However, there are certain fraudsters and cyberpunks using the same technologies for illegal purposes. And sadly, despite the increasing level of cyber crime in India, security of information is mired in a slough of ignorance.

There is no denying that the mass adoption of wireless technologies such as WiMax and 3G among enterprises will have plenty of advantages like cost savings. However, given ease of accessibility of IT networks and thus data-from a meeting room to hotel, café or a parking zone-the concerns of corporates cannot be taken lightly.

Sophistication Magnified
In the past couple of years there has been a substantial addition in the usage of smartphones in the corporate sector. This has been largely driven by anytime, anywhere connectivity and access to various other online services. According to industry experts and estimates, the number of malwares targeting smartphones has increased significantly since the last few years.

“The data-centric approach of 3G and other associated services persuades us to think whether the attacks experienced by data networks over many years are also applicable to 3G networks. The answer could be affirmative in some cases,” says Ajay Masur, CIO, Hirco.

Imagine the consequences if a hacker parcels out a malware infected version, in a widely used application, on to a 3G/WiMax-based device and uses the infected device to launch (DoS) Denial of Service attack against any target area. Or start spreading the malware using P2P protocols?

“Are 3G users ready for the attacks/breaches? The answer is no. Many users still do not believe that their phones can be targeted. For broadband connectivity, we still prefer leased lines because of the reliability, speed and time-proven architecture,” added Masur.

Get Ready for More
The recent terrorist attacks demonstrated the kind of threat unsecured wireless networks can produce. Also, there are concerns from industry bodies that if we fail to build a strong security mechanism, the country could face a new level of cyber war where the entire corporate and business development could be null and void in a fraction of a second.

Elucidating his concerns, Vikas Desai, lead technology consultant, India & SAARC, RSA says, “After RBI's plans for inclusion of the bottom of the pyramid for banking, more and more money-related transactions will happen over the mobile. And except for how the compromise is done for these networks, the threats are exactly the same-identity theft, fraudulent transactions, malware distribution, etc.”

Security appliances and software sold to service providers to protect their mobile networks will reach $889 mn in worldwide sales by 2011, says a recent report by Infonetics. The report further states that the emerging adoption of smartphones, iPhones and Windows mobile phones would be driven by consolidation in the OS market, becoming a large target for hackers.

By adopting new breeds of technologies enterprises benefit by connecting every branch, partner and customer at a very low cost.  Also, as employees' laptops and smartphones are connected using high speed wireless broadband, it enables them to create a virtual office. In addition, experts believe that it's also possible to deploy 3G as an alternate backup link to the existing high speed links. However, a comprehensive security policy and effective safeguards should be the key priority of enterprises.

“The situation is complicated by the fact that 3G is backward compatible with GSM. Thus, even if 3G has its own security features, a customer who leaves a 3G network and travels into a GSM network is exposed to the same security threats of the GSM networks,” says Avi Basu, founder and CEO, Connectiva Systems.

Third generation networks use KASUMI block crypto rather than the older A5/1 stream cipher. However, a number of concerns in the KASUMI cipher have been identified in the past few years. KASUMI is basically a block cipher being used to maintain the privacy and integrity of algorithms.

With more and more usage of technology, the probability of e-hafta is also likely to develop Pavan Duggal, practicising advocate and cyber law expert, Supreme Court of India	WiMax is a network based on Internet protocol, and is subject to the vulnerabilities of any IP network Vikas Desai, lead, technology consultant, India & SAARC, RSA, a security division of EMC

In addition, attacks possible on the telecom network, including DDOS, BOTS, virus, worms, etc, are also possible on the mobile handsets. And it is therefore important to implement the security on mobile handsets.

In the case of WiMax networks, the Privacy and Key Management (PKM) protocol in authenticity mechanism is weak (where there is no base station or service provider authentication) which makes it susceptible to cyber attacks. Some industry experts also show concerns about the possibility of attackers using legacy management frames to forcibly disconnect legitimate stations.

“While comparing with traditional 802.11x networks, 3G networks certainly perform better on the security front. However, by intentional capacity overload for a particular cell site, and possible DoS attack can be achieved using some sophisticated devices,” says Dhiren Savla, CIO, Kuoni Travel Group, India.

One of the key security issue in WiMax network is the 'man-in-the-middle' where impersonation of the base station or a two-way imitation between the subscriber and base station is possible. Also, operators need to adopt proper security measures over concerns such as theft of service, physical denial of evidence and protocol denial of evidence. If we compare both these technologies, data encryption used by 3G seems to be highly advanced with relatively lesser chance for intruders to sniff or steal data.

“WiMax is a network based on the Internet protocol, and is subject to the vulnerabilities of any IP network,” says Vikas Desai, lead technology consultant, India & SAARC, RSA, a security division of EMC.

Commenting on the adoption of the technology, Shirish Patwardhwan, CIO, KPIT Cummins Infosystems says, “WiMax is better suited for campus application which has large coverage but is still limited to a boundary and its investments upfront are cheaper than 3G. Also, we don't know whether we can install the 3G equipment and use the band as private.”