Securing your Home Wi-Fi network: A Guide to Wi-Fi

protocols and Best practices

Amreen Javaid, Iqra Naeem,Ayesha Aslam

Department of Information Technology

GC Women University

Sialkot, Pakistan

adx9er@r.postjobfree.com

Abstract—A secure home network will help reduce the risk of being hacked. Wi-Fi protocols are becoming increasingly popular due to their flexibility. Wireless networks pose a threat to data security, and this paper highlights various protocols, including NS2, WEP, WPA, WPA2, and WPA3, and their weaknesses and strength. This paper also develops an intelligent, easy-to-deploy mechanism that uses machine learning techniques for accurate diagnosis of common Wi-Fi pathologies. Detecting the causes of poor performance in Wi-Fi networks. Wi-Fi 6 brings increased efficiency and security improvements, and password protection is used to prevent brute-force attacks and dictionary attacks in Wi-Fi-based IoT applications. Keywords---Data Security, Personal Networks, SAE

(Simultaneous Authentication of Equals), Wi-Fi Protected Access, TKIP (Temporal Key Integrity Protocol)

I. INTRODUCTION

Wireless networks are becoming increasingly popular, and the challenge of information security is becoming

increasingly critical. Wi-Fi technology is used to connect devices over the internet, but it can be vulnerable to hackers [1]. Wi-Fi security ensures that networks and devices connected are safe from intruders. It creates a barrier by encrypting private information.

A. Wi-Fi pathologies

1) Wi-Fi pathologies: This paper develops an

intelligent, easy to deploy mechanism that employs machine learning techniques to accurately diagnose the most common Wi-Fi pathologies.

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2) Accuracy and precision: Several works have put an effort on investigating the detection and classification of the various causes of poor performance in Wi-Fi networks with the help of classification algorithms [2].

a) Best classifier algorithm: The collected data is fed to four different classification algorithms and the K- Nearest Neighbors classifier achieves almost 100%

accuracy and precision for the active probing and 95% accuracy and precision for the passive detection across the considered pathologies.

Fig. 1. Wi-Fi and internet speed measurements in May 2020 B) Wi-Fi protocols

A comparative analysis of WEP, WPA and WPA2

shows that WEP is the weakest, WPA was a

temporary solution and WPA2 is a very solid and

long-term solution [3].Based on the IEEE 802.11ax

standard, Wi-Fi 6 delivers increased overall

efficiency. Along with network improvements, Wi-Fi 6 brings important enhancements known as WPA3

regarding security both for personal and enterprise networks.

Wi-Fi technology plays a significant role in IoT based applications. SRPP is used to protect Wi-Fi-based IoT applications from brute force and dictionary attacks. II. STRENGTH AND WEAKNESSES

B. Wi-Fi protocols

1) WEP(Wired Equivalent Privacy): Wi-Fi Alliance

introduced WEP in 1997 to provide data security and privacy. It uses RC4 algorithm to encrypt plain text and integrity check value, and uses four operations to encode and send information. The RC4 algorithm generates a keystream using initialization vectors, WEP keys, Cyclic Redundancy Code (CRC) and XOR between the data

obtained from the previous step and the keystream [4]. a) Weakness: WEP does not take the problem of

managing keys into consideration and confidential key by the WEP does not enhance the security of network that’s why we upgrade WEP to WPA.

2) WPA(Wi-Fi Protected Access): WEP is a Wi-Fi

security protocol that uses temporal key integrity technique (TKIP) for encryption, Message Integrity Check

(MIC), Initialization Vector (IV), and key mixing. It also uses a hashing-based initialization-vector sequencing technique to dynamically change the encryption key. a) Weakness: WPA provides more sophisticated

data encryption and better user authentication than Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP), the original Wi-Fi security standard. Due to WEP`s security weaknesses and because WPA uses only a subset of the IEEE 802 [5].

3) WPA(Wi-Fi Protected Access 2): WPA2 uses a part of AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) called Counter mode, Cipher Block Chaining, and Message

Authentication code (MAC) protocol (CCMP) which

helps provide both integrity and data security.WPA2 was created to be better, faster, and more robust than the original WPA.

a) Weakness: WPA2 still utilizes TKIP, it also uses the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) algorithm, a more complex encryption protocol [6].

4) WPA(Wi-Fi Protected Access3): WPA3 is a remote

security standard that protects against brute force attacks and forward secrecy, providing a second defense line for networks with weak passwords. It eliminates cyber- attacks such as brute forcing.WPA3-Personal uses

Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE) which is resistant to offline dictionary attacks and protects data even if a password is compromised. Reviewing hostapd source code and manual fuzz testing against Aps [9]. III. COMPARISON OF PROTOCOLS

TABLE I. Differentiate between protocols

1) SRP Protocol: Machine learning techniques such as Decision Trees, Random Forests, Support Vector

Machines and K-Nearest Neighbors are used to diagnose Wi-Fi networks' pathologies [7]. SRPP protects Wi-Fi- based IoT applications from brute force and dictionary attacks. The SRP protocol is used to form a known secret session key (ssK) and password PS for IoT Client Device and IoT Application server node.NS2 simulates attacks in WSN, running on various platforms.

2) NS2 Protocol): NS2 is a well known device for

mimicking wired and remote organization tasks. It gives a profoundly measured stage to wired and remote

recreations supporting different organization components, conventions, traffic, and steering types1 [8]. NS2 offers significant help for recreation of various conventions over wired and remote networks1 [10].

IV. KEY-RECOVERY ATTACKS OF 5G/6G

TABLE II. ATTACKS

Name Type Packets Year Ratio

FMS Statistical 6,000,000

WEP 64

Bits

2001 86

KOREK Statistical 20,000,000

WEP 64

Bits

2011

3

PTW Statistical 70,000,000

WEP 64

Bits

2016 1

Properties

Protocols

WEP

WPA WPA2 WPA3

Encryption

Method

RC4 RC4 with

TKIP

AES-

CCMP

AES

Encryption

Key Size

40 bits 128 bits 128 bits 128

Bits

Data

Integrity

CRC MessageInteg

rityCode

(MIC)

blockchain

High

Algor

ithm

Cipher type Stream Stream Block Block

Authenticat

ion

Shared

WPAEnterpri

se

PersonalW

PA2

EAP

Authen

tication

TABLE III: Comparative analysis

Paper Name Purpose Technique Advantages Limitations On the Employment

of Machine Learning

Techniques for

Troubleshooting WiFi

Networks

Detect the

causes of

WiFi under

performance

Active &

Passive

monitoring,

Classification

algorithms

After detecting

causes make

better steps to

make faster

your WiFi.

Limited

classificati on

algorithms

How is your Wi-Fi

connection today?

DoS attacks on

WPA3-SAE

Weaknesses

or

misconfigurat

ions of SAE

in WPA-3

Fuzz testing

technique

Awareness

about different

attacks

Seek of

weaknesse s just

one version of

WPA-3

Enhanced IoT Wi-

Fi protocol

standard’s security

using secure remote

password

Enhancing

the security

of Wi-Fi

SRP protocol

Method WiFi

to protect

using secure

password

Focus on just a

single protocol

SRP and further

studies continue

Comparative Analysis

of Security and

Privacy Protocols in

Wireless

Communication

Provide data

security and

privacy

RC4

RC4 with TKIP

AES-CCMP

AES

Focusing only

on the

encryption

strength,

Provides

better

password

authentication

Downgrade

Attacks

Side-Channel

leaks

V. CONCLUSION

In this review paper different wireless Security protocols like WEP/WPA/WPA2/WPA3 are talked about. At first

outline of WEP is given and how the attacks happen in WEP can be seen. Furthermore, the upgrades made to WPA/WPA2/WPA3 to defeat a wide range of attacks are talked about. Weaknesses of every protocol and the enhancements over the former are disscussed. Multiple classification algorithms used to detect Wi-Fi

underperformance. SRP protocol is used to form a known secret session key and password for IoT Client Device and IoT Application server node. In this way, the end of this paper is that the security issues should be painstakingly remembered while planning the wireless Security

Conventions as the programmers are finding new ways of locking in.

VI. FUTURE WORK

Future Wi-Fi Development focuses on enhancing data transfer rates and overall bandwidth, expanding coverage range, improving power efficiency, and ensuring secure and private communication over network. Security is a major focus with strong encryption methods and

authentication protocols. Affirmed 6™ into 6 GHz with Wi-Fi 6G highlights so clients can rapidly profit from this extra limit.

VII. REFERENCES

[1] L. Raghavendra, Comparative Analysis of Security and Privacy Protocols in Wireless Communication,

Department of Computer Science and Engineering,

RNSIT, India, 2022.

[2] V. S. Dr. B. Indira Reddy, Review on Wireless

Security Protocols (WEP, WPA, WPA2 & WPA3),

Department of Information Technology, Sreenidhi

Institute of Science and Technology, Hyderabad,

India, 2019.

[3] S. P. V. Y. Sandesh Jain, Ethical Hacking of IEEE 802.11 Encryption Protocols, Delhi Technological

University, Delhi,India, 2020.

[4] G. Kambourakis, How is your Wi-Fi connection

today? DoS attacks on WPA3-SAE, European

Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), 21027

Ispra, Italy, 2022.

[5] I. Syrigos, On the Employment of Machine Learning Techniques for Troubleshooting WiFi Networks,

USA: IEEE, 2020.

[6] H. A. Tarish, Enhanced IoT Wi-Fi protocol

standard’s security using secure remote password,

ISO, 2022.

[7] H.-K. Cho, Evolution of Wi-Fi Protected Access:, IEEE, 2021.

[8] J. V. a. N. A. Jani Suomalainen1, Security

Associations in Personal Networks:, Technical

Research Centre of Finland, 2020.

[9] K. Ramezanpour, Security and privacy vulnerabilities of 5G/6G and WiFi 6: Survey and research directions from a coexistence perspective, Marconi-Rosenblatt AI/ML Innovation Laboratory, ANDRO

Computational Solutions, LLC, Rome, 13440, NY,

USA, 2023.

[10] M. Caneill, Attacks against the WiFi protocols, India, 2020.

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