Securing wireless in the cyber domain

Cyber-attacks appear in the headlines almost daily and The Economist has asserted that cyberspace is the fifth warfare domain. State of the art wireless technologies such as Bluetooth, RFID, 3G/4G cellular, and Wi-Fi have all been comprised to some degree or another. The President of the United States has declared cyber security as “one of the most serious... national security challenges we face as a nation.” The U.S. Department of Defense has created the U.S. Cyber Command and has recently unveiled its Strategy for Operating in Cyberspace. What exactly is the cyber domain? Where are the technology-related battle lines drawn? What are the open problems that must be solved? This talk will examine the cyber domain from a technical viewpoint, focusing on the critical and expanding role of wireless communications and networking. Vulnerabilities in modern wireless technologies will be outlined and ongoing research efforts to close these vulnerabilities will be discussed. The talk will conclude with an exploration of some of the prominent wireless security challenges that remain.