ABSTRACT
This chapter examines possible attacks and threat models in Wireless local area network (WLAN) mesh networks. A technology that is sure to affect our lives significantly over the next few years is wireless mesh networking. Wireless mesh as a technology has been around almost as long as wireless local area networks, but has only recently become more popular. Outdoor WLAN networks exacerbate security exposure by deliberately transporting data over radio waves through open air in metropolitan and rural areas; that is, exposing the physical access points in the open public. Eavesdropping is accessing information without detection of either the data originator or the intended receiver. WLAN mesh networks face another array of security challenges that emerge from its multi-hop nature. Even when mesh nodes are authenticated before joining a WLAN mesh network, many aspects of a mesh are controlled via broadcast frames. In a WLAN mesh network, many nodes are equipped with Ethernet or fiber-wired interfaces.
