Wireless Security: Models, Threats, and Solutions Review

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(More customer reviews)The subject of security in the wireless field is a rather confusing one. It relies on an intricate web of multiple and tightly interweaved technical and scientific disciplines way beyond what the average Berkeley "kid" will ever dream to hack. One is usually not an expert in all of these areas. The field has therefore been and pretty much remains the domain of a few top-notch pros.
To master the subject however does not mean that one has suddenly come up with an all-encompassing solution or a magic checklist. It rather means that one has acquired a broad and dense set of knowledge from communications theory to cryptography and from electrical engineering to network design that will allow one to apply discernment as to what may go wrong in a project and what options there are to address the issues, what may work and what may not work and above all why. Before you cook you must know what a kitchen is and what utensils are needed for what purpose.
WIRELESS SECURITY is not a cookbook. It is a massive and scholary exposition of lots of inter-related material much of which cannot be easily found elsewhere and even that which can be found elsewhere will require time and money until one produces it on one's desk, like the material on stream ciphers, on voice processing, or on embedded end-to-end secure systems that transcend vocoders and network infrasrtuctures.
Besides themselves, the authors have put together an impressive list of individual contributors to this book that reads like a Who's Who list from the government military and intelligence communications field and this brings an extra aura of authority and competence to this book. Many books these days are written by a self-appointed expert, usually a fly-by-night quasi-consultant, whose academic credentials at best span an evening class at a local community college and whose major technical accomplishment is that they can safely....start a C-language compiler from the command line, yet they portray themselves as undisputed experts on a cutting-edge subject.
Well WIRELESS SECURITY is not one of those books. It is a heavy-duty impressive textbook that has been clearly written by professionals for readers with a broad thirst and a deep desire to understand the multiple dimensions of the problem of wireless security. It does not give answers to all your questions, in fact it will generate many more questions in your head, but it will help you form a clear idea of contexts, possibilities, ramifications and implications, and more importantly it will steer you to the right direction for subsequent research on a subject. Isn't that however what a good textbook is supposed to be all about?
The book makes the reader sensitive about issues that many people (even professionals) today are simply not even aware about. It covers lots and lots of material from many relevant and seemingly remote areas, spanning from cryptography and voice processing all the way to integrated systems design, and from high-power eavesdropping techniques in the era of CDMA to weaknesses in the set up of wireless LANs.
Of course, if one is looking for a crytography-fundamentals book there are others that are much better suited to the subject. Or if one is looking for a How-To-set-up-your-LAN-by-grilling-your-vendors type of book full of checklists, then this is not for you. There are several other books on certain aspects of wireless security in the market, that are much less scholarly, and certainly less pricey than this one.
If one however wants to take a thorough and comprehensive look over the field of Wireless Security at large, then there should be no doubt that THIS is and by far THE book on the subject. There are no subfields in the area that it does not cover and the authors manage to do it in a nicely flowing style that never becomes boring, no matter how esoteric the subject is.
It is extremely well documented with lots of references and useful footonotes. The care of the authors and their passion about the subject is manifest all over the book. The only small weakness of this book is it has some annoying typos in a couple of places (however nothing critical in terms of overall correctness of text) including some of the earlier figures. If it goes to a 2nd edition the publisher had better address these with a competent copy editor as they do injustice to an overall superb effort.
I am working in the area of advanced DSP-based wireless communications security and in short, I find this book very useful. I refer to it very often during my work. I strongly recommend WIRELESS SECURITY to anyone seriously interested in the subject.

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This comprehensive guide catalogues and explains the full range of the security challenges involved in wireless communications. Experts Randall K. Nichols and Panos C. Lekkas lay out the vulnerabilities, response options, and real-world costs connected with wireless platforms and applications. Read this book to develop the background and skills to: recognize new and established threats to wireless systems; close gaps that threaten privacy, profits, and customer loyalty; replace temporary, fragmented, and partial solutions with more robust and durable answers; prepare for the boom in m-business; weigh platforms against characteristic attacks and protections; apply clear guidelines for the best solutions now and going forward; and assess today's protocol options and compensate for documented shortcomings. It is a comprehensive guide to the states-of-the-art. It includes: encryption algorithms you can use now; end-to-end hardware solutions and field programmable gate arrays; speech cryptology; authentication strategies and security protocols for wireless systems; infosec and infowar experience; and adding satellites to your security mix.

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