Introducing identity management in WiMAX to enable secure and personalized services

The increasing popularity of broadband Internet and the widespread penetration of full-featured mobile devices have signaled WiMAX importance. IEEE 802.16 standard has focused on security from the beginning, being security support a fundamental aspect in wireless communication. We have found some limitations concerning authentication and authorization mechanisms at user level. To overcome those limitations we consider necessary to provide a proper identity management support for WiMAX for enhancing users' experience whereas delivering services in a secure fashion. In this article we analyze several weaknesses and vulnerabilities in WiMAX security and propose the introduction of identity management in WiMAX for a better provision of secure personalized services.