Improved Secure Network Authentication Protocol (ISNAP) for IEEE 802.16

Security is amongst one of the major issues in broadband wireless access (BWA) networks. After the launch of the IEEE 802.16 standard (WiMAX), a number of security issues were reported in several articles. Ever since the beginning, work has been in progress for the neutralization of these identified threats. In this paper, the analysis of the authentication protocols implemented in WiMAX has been presented along with the description of the threats posed to them. The paper also describes security sub-layer and limitations of the existing architecture. An approach has also been presented for the prevention of these threats like the avoidance of replay; suppress replay and man-in-the-middle attacks. The proposed approach enhances the network security and strengthens it by resynchronization of the subscriber station with the base station.