Security broker for multimedia wireless LANs: design, implementation and testbed

Abstract

To secure interactive multimedia applications in wireless LANs (WLANs) it is pertinent to implement a number of security services such as authentication, key exchange and real-time encryption/decryption. WLANs, though, present a complex and challenging environment for implementing such security services since these services may deplete the limited network resources and increase the burden of supporting quality of service for multimedia applications. Consequently, a broker is needed to mediate proper security considering inputs such as user security requirements, user security literacy, available network resources, and security routines performance. In this paper we introduce a security broker that we have designed to fulfil these complex mediation needs. This broker is implemented in software and tested in a wireless LAN testbed. The reported security broker design and implementation considers the wireless LAN environment as well as the multimedia applications' quality of service requirements such as delay and throughput. We also introduce an inline encryption/decryption software that encrypts/decrypts traffic on the fly. Our experiments show that in cases where relatively modern computers are used with properly chosen standard encryptors, then such computers can sustain the throughput and security requirements of interactive multimedia applications for WLANs such as telephone-quality audio, video conferencing, and MPEG video.