ABSTRACT

IEEE 802.16 basically designed to provide more security as compared to other wireless networks. It provides many security features to protect the information in the network as well as to protect the network from unauthorized access, still it vulnerable to many attacks. The process, where attack or threat is possible, is the initial network entry process of IEEE 802.16. This is because many of the MAC management messages, which are used in this process, are not encrypted. The initial network entry process is very important as this is the first gate to establish connection between MS and BS. The solution to this problem provided by some paper is to use Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm, but the algorithm we are going to use here is elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm. This paper provides the solution to the initial network entry process by using elliptic curve Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm as it is faster than the Diffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm. Hence it also improves the performance of IEEE 802.16.