Implementation and Evaluation of A Low-Cost Intrusion Detection System For Community Wireless Mesh Networks

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Date
2015-04-02Author
Quibell, Wojciech
Type
ThesisDegree Level
MastersMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Rural Community Wireless Mesh Networks (WMN) can be great assets to rural communities, helping them connect to the rest of their region and beyond. However, they can be a liability in terms of security. Due to the ad-hoc nature of a WMN, and the wide variety of applications and systems that can be found in such a heterogeneous environment there are multiple points of intrusion for an attacker. An unsecured WMN can lead to privacy and legal problems for the users of the network. Due to the resource constrained environment, traditional Intrusion Detection Systems (IDS) have not been as successful in defending these wireless network environments, as they were in wired network deployments. This thesis proposes that an IDS made up of low cost, low power devices can be an acceptable base for a Wireless Mesh Network Intrusion Detection System. Because of the device's low power, cost and ease of use, such a device could be easily deployed and maintained in a rural setting such as a Community WMN. The proposed system was compared to a standard IDS solution that would not cover the entire network, but had much more computing power but also a higher capital cost as well as maintenance costs. By comparing the low cost low power IDS to a standard deployment of an open source IDS, based on network coverage and deployment costs, a determination can be made that a low power solution can be feasible in a rural deployment of a WMN.
Degree
Master of Science (M.Sc.)Department
Computer ScienceProgram
Computer ScienceSupervisor
Makaroff, DwightCommittee
Eager, Derek; Dutchyn, Christopher; Wahid, KhanCopyright Date
February 2015Subject
WMN, IDS, Intrusion Detection System.