Creation of Virtual Wi-Fi Access Point and Secured Wi-Fi Pairing, through NFC

Oussama Stiti, Othmen Braham, Guy Pujolle

Sorbonne Universities, UPMC Univ. Paris 06, UMR 7606, Paris, France.
VirtuOR, Paris, France.

DOI: 10.4236/ijcns.2014.76019                

Abstract

The growing ubiquity of Wi-Fi networks combined with the integration of low-cost Wi-Fi chipsets in all devices makes Wi-Fi as the wireless technology the most used for accessing to internet [1]. This means that the development of a Wi-Fi strategy has become an imperative for almost all operators worldwide. In this context, APs (Access Points) have to become as secure as cellular networks. Furthermore, authentication process between a mobile device and an access point has to be automated, without user constraining configuration. For reaching this purpose, client must have different credentials depending on authentication method. Our goal is to create an architecture that is both ergonomic and flexible in order to meet the need for connection and client mobility. We use NFC technology as a radio channel for starting communication with the network. The communication initiation will instantiate a virtual Wi-Fi AP and distribute all policies and access certificates for an authentication based on EAP-TLS (it could be extended to any EAP method for 802.1X standard). The end result of our new topology is to allow access to services through a virtual Wi-Fi AP with an enterprise-grade in a public hotspot.

Keywords

Wi-Fi, NFC, Virtual Access Point, Pairing, Automation

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

References

[1]	Wireless Broadband Alliance, Global Developments in Public Wi-Fi, WBA Report Industry 2011. http://www.wballiance.com/wba/wpcontent/uploads/downloads/2012/07/16_WBA-Industry-Report-2011-_Global-Developments-in-Public-Wi-Fi-1.00.pdf
[2]	Stiti, O. and Braham, O. (2014) 802.1X-EAP-TLS Certificates Provisioning with NFC Terminals for Accessing to Wi-Fi CERTIFIED Passpoint. MobiSecNFC 2014: 1st Workshop of Mobile Applications, Secure Elements and Near Field Communication, Gainesville Florida, 21-22 February 2014,
[3]	Cisco (2014) Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update, 2013-2018. http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/visual-networking-index-vni/white_paper_c11-520862.pdf
[4]	Cisco (2010) Evolution of the Mobile Network. http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/solutions/collateral/service-provider/mobile-internet/white_paper_c 11-624446.pdf
[5]	IETF RFC-5216 (2008) The EAP TLS Authentication Protocol.
[6]	Braham, O. and Pujolle, G. (2012) Virtual Access Point to the Cloud. Cloud Networking (CLOUDNET). 2012 IEEE 1st International Conference on Cloud Networking, Paris, 28-30 November 2012, 206-208.
[7]	NFC Forum Specifications. http://www.nfc-forum.org/specs/
[8]	Security Risks of Near Field Communication. http://www.nearfieldcommunication.org/nfc-security-risks.html
[9]	LLCPS, draft-urien-tls-llcp-00.txt, IETF Draft, 2012.
[10]	Urien, P. (2013) LLCPS, A New Security Framework Based on TLS for NFC P2P Applications in the Internet of Things. Consumer Communications and Networking Conference (CCNC), 2013 IEEE, Las Vegas, 11-14 January 2013, 845-846.