Security Considerations for Handover Schemes in Mobile WiMAX Networks

IEEE 802.16e uses EAP-based authentication and key management for link layer security. Due to the lack of ability to support mobility, however, EAP-based key management becomes a principal impediment to the achievement of an efficient and secure handover in IEEE 802.16e mobile WiMAX networks. In this paper, an overview of the EAP-based handover procedures of the latest IEEE 802.16e standard is given and their security flaws are analyzed. Possible solutions for secure handover in IEEE 802.16e networks are also proposed in this paper. The proposed handover protocol guarantees a backward/forward secrecy while gives little burden over the previous handover protocols.