Skip to main content
Springer Nature Link
Log in

Enhancing the Security of IEEE 802.11i Standard by Integrating a Quantum Scheme for Authentication and Encryption Key Distribution

  • Published:
Wireless Personal Communications Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

According to the principles of quantum mechanics, quantum cryptography provides the necessary means to establish a secret and perfectly random key material between two parties. However, classical cryptography suffers from several vulnerabilities that make it unsecure against impersonation attacks or enemy with an unbounded computing power. Improving the contemporary cryptographic methods, based only on computational security, by integrating a quantum cryptographic solution becomes an interesting prospect worth exploring. In this paper, we introduce a quantum scheme, for mutual authentication and key establishment, which will be integrated within IEEE 802.11 networks to reach absolute security. The key issued from the quantum algorithm is a fundamental parameter for authenticating the participating parties and for building the Pairwise key and the Group key hierarchies. To inspect the security of our approach, a formal verification of some security properties is performed using the Model Checking technique.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9
Fig. 10

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. IEEE Standard 802.11-2012. (2012). Information technology - Telecommunications and information exchange between systems - Local and metropolitan area networks - Specific Requirements Part 11: Wireless LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications.

  2. Gopalakrishnan, S. (2014). A survey of wireless network security. International Journal of Computer Science and Mobile Computing, 3(1), 53–68.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Kumar, U., & Gambhir, S. (2014). A literature review of security threats to wireless networks. International Journal of Future Generation Communication and Networking, 7(4), 25–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Daemen, J., & Rijmen, V. (2002). The design of Rijndael: AES-the advanced encryption standard. Berlin: Springer.

    Book  MATH  Google Scholar 

  5. Peikert, C. (2014). Lattice cryptography for the Internet. In Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQCrypto) 2014, LNCS. Springer.

  6. Ghilen, A., Azizi, M., Bouallegue, R., & Belmabrouk, H. (2013). Quantum Authentication based on entangled states. In Proceedings of World Congress on Multimedia and Computer Science (pp. 75–78). Hammamet, Tunisia.

  7. Patel, K. A., et al. (2014). Quantum key distribution for 10 Gb/s dense wavelength division multiplexing networks. Applied Physics Letters, 104(5), 051123.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Song, F. (2014). A note on quantum security for post-quantum cryptography, PQCrypto2014. arXiv:1409.2187v1 [quant-ph], September 2014.

  9. Wei, T. S., Tsai, C. W., & Hwang, T. (2011). Comment on Quantum Key Distribution and Quantum Authentication based on entangled state. International Journal of Theoretical Physics, 50, 2703–2707.

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  10. Ghilen, A., Azizi, M., & Bouallegue, R. (2015). Integration and formal security analysis of a quantum key distribution scheme within CHAP protocol. In Accepted in the Proceedings of the 12th ACS/IEEE International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications (AICCSA), Marrakech/Morocco, November 2015.

  11. Ghilen, A., Azizi, M., & Bouallegue, R. (2015). Q-OpenVPN: A new extension of OpenVPN based on a Quantum scheme for Authentication and key distribution. In Proceedings of the 14th International Conference, CANS 2015, Marrakesh, Morocco, December 2015 (pp. 238–247).

  12. IEEE Std 802.1X-2004. (2004). 802.1X IEEE Standard for Local and metropolitan area networks, Port-Based Network Access Control, Revision of IEEE Std 802.1X-2001, IEEE.

  13. Djellab, R. (2009). New scheme of integrating quantum key distribution in 802.11i. In ICMCS ’09, April 2009 (pp. 46–50).

  14. Ghilen, A., Azizi, M., & Belmabrouk, H. (2015). Incorporation and model checking of a quantum authentication and key distribution scheme in EAP-TLS. In Proceedings of the Mediterranean Conference on Information & Communication Technologies’ 2015 MedICT 2015, May 2015.

  15. Huang, X., & Sharma, D. (2008). Quantum key distribution for Wi-Fi network security, circuits and systems for communications, 2008. In ICCSC 2008. 4th IEEE International Conference on, Shanghai, 2008 (pp. 85–89).

  16. Bennett, C. H. (1992). Quantum cryptography using any two nonorthogonal states. Physical Review Letters, 68, 3121–3124.

    Article  MathSciNet  MATH  Google Scholar 

  17. Nguyen, T. M. T., Sfaxi, M. A., & Ghernaouti-Hélie, S. (2006). Integration of quantum cryptography in 802.11 networks. In Proceedings of 1st International Conference on Availability, Reliability and Security (ARES’06), Vienna, Austria, 2006.

  18. Nguyen, T. M. T., Sfaxi, M. A., & Ghernaouti-Hélie, S. (2006). 802.11i encryption key distribution using quantum cryptography. Journal of Networks, 1(5), 9–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Bhatia, P., & Sumbaly, R. (2014). Framework for wireless network security using quantum cryptography. International Journal of Computer Networks & Communications (IJCNC), 6(6), 45–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Scarani, V., Acin, A., Ribordy, G., & Gisin, N. (2004). Quantum cryptography protocols Robust against photon number splitting attacks for weak laser pulse implementations. Physical Review Letters, 92, 057901.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Sharma, A., Ojha, V., & Lenka, S.K. (2010). Quantum key distribution in WLAN 802.11 networks. In 2010 International Conference on Networking & Information Technology (ICNIT); 2010 (pp. 402–405).

  22. Priyanka, B., & Ronak, S. (2014). Framework for wireless network security using quantum cryptography. IJCNC, 6(6), 45–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Mayers, D. (1998). Unconditional Security in Quantum Cryptography. arXiv:quantph/9802025.

  24. Fan, H., et al. (2014). Quantum cloning machines and the applications. Physics Reports, 544(3), 241–322.

    Article  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  25. Kwiatkowska, M. (2015). Probabilistic model checking with PRISM. In POPL 2015 tutorial, Mumbai, January 2015.

  26. Norman, G., et al. (2013). Model checking for probabilistic timed automata. Formal Methods in System Design, 43(2), 164–190.

    Article  MATH  Google Scholar 

  27. Schreiner, W. (2014). Analyzing cluster scheduling schemes by probabilistic model checking. Linz, Austria: Research Institute for Symbolic Computation (RISC), Johannes Kepler University. Technical report, September 2014.

  28. Premlata, S., & Leena, R. (2013). Quantum cryptography with key distribution in wireless network. IJACTE, 2(6), 74–79.

    Google Scholar 

  29. Bennett, C., & Brassard, G. (1984). Quantum cryptography: Public key distribution and coin tossing. In International Conference on Computers, Systems & Signal Processing, India (pp. 175–179).

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Engineering School of Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia

    Aymen Ghilen

  2. Department of Computer Engineering ESTO, University of Mohamed Ist, Oujda, Morocco

    Mostafa Azizi

  3. Innov’COM Laboratory, Higher School of Communications (Sup’Com), Tunis, Tunisia

    Ridha Bouallegue

Authors
  1. Aymen Ghilen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  2. Mostafa Azizi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

  3. Ridha Bouallegue
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Aymen Ghilen.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Ghilen, A., Azizi, M. & Bouallegue, R. Enhancing the Security of IEEE 802.11i Standard by Integrating a Quantum Scheme for Authentication and Encryption Key Distribution. Wireless Pers Commun 95, 1655–1675 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-016-3873-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11277-016-3873-9

Keywords