End-to-End (E2E) Security Approach in WiMAX: A Security Technical Overview for Corporate Multimedia Applications

Abstract

An overview of the technical and business aspects is given for the corporate deployment of services over worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX). WiMAX is considered to be a strong candidate for the next generation of broadband wireless access; therefore its security is critical. This chapter provides an overview of the inherent and complementary benefits of broadband deployment over a long haul wireless pipe, such as WiMAX. In addition, we explore end-to-end (E2E) security structures necessary to launch secure business and consumer class services. The main focus of this chapter is to look for a best security practice to achieve E2E security in both vertical and horizontal markets. The E2E security practices will ensure complete coverage of the entire link from the client (user) to the server. This is also applicable to wireless virtual private network (VPN) applications where the tunneling mechanism between the client and the server ensures complete privacy and security for all users. The same idea for E2E security is applied to client-server-based multimedia applications, such as in Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) and voice over IP (VoIP) where secure client/server communication is required. In general, we believe that WiMAX provides the opportunity for a new class of high data rate symmetric services. Such services will require E2E security schemes to ensure risk-free high data-rate uploads and downloads of multimedia applications. WiMAX provides the capability for embedded security functions through the 802.16 security architecture standards. IEEE 802.16 is further subcategorized as 802.16d (fixed-WiMAX) and 802.16e (mobile-WiMAX). Due to the mobility and roaming capabilities in 802.16e and the fact that the medium of signal transmission is accessible to everyone, there are a few extra security considerations applied to 802.16e. These extra features include: privacy key management version 2 (PKMv2), PKM-extensible authentication protocol (EAP) authentication method, advanced encryption standard (AES) encryption wrapping, and so forth. The common security features of 802.16d and 802.16e are discussed in this chapter, as well as the highlights of the security comparisons between other broadband access, third-generation (3G) technologies, and WiMAX.