Security Issues of Wireless Communication Networks.

Wireless Communication Networks have attracted a lot of interest in the research community due to their potential applicability in a wide range of real-world practical applications. However, due to the distributed nature and their deployments in critical applications without human interventions and sensitivity and criticality of data communicated, these networks are vulnerable to numerous security threats that can adversely affect their performance. These issues become even more critical in wireless sensor networks (WSNs) in which the sensor nodes have the capabilities of changing their transmission and reception parameters according to the radio environment under which they operate in order to achieve reliable and efficient communication and optimum utilization of the network resources. Recent development in the fields of wireless technologies have greatly benefited mankind, but rapid growth of these technologies have also contributed to unethical practices by individuals who are bent on using the technology to exploit others. Due to the low cost and convenience of deploying wireless networks, they have replaced wired networks in many fields of application. This shift from wired to wireless networks invalidates some established security concepts that rely on the physical inaccessibility of wired connections, as the nature of radio propagation makes it possible to attack wireless networks from outside the established perimeter protection. Such security issues have been increasing in number and complexity over the past few years. Hence there is a need to have comprehensive understanding of security issues and its countermeasures. The purpose of this survey is to do a comprehensive study of these issues in order to create awareness about the various types of threats and their mode of actions so that appropriate countermeasures can be initiated against such issue especially focuses on highly challenging Wireless ad-hoc networks.