Is the WiMAX security scare a big furphy

Stuart Corner
Monday, 22 January 2007 10:14

Opinion and Analysis

Feeling that this was an important issue in need of exploration I asked Eric Hamilton CTO of Unwired Australia, which is gearing up for large scale deployment of mobile WiMAX gear as soon as it's available. His response was that the issue was a complete furphy (my words not his): that WiMAX technology conforming to WiMAX Forum certification is inherently secure and therefore the security issues facing any WiMAX network operator are no more or less than those facing the operator, or user, of any other access network.

"The security aspect of WiMAX is built in as part of the requirement for WiMAX certification...[The WiMAX link] is encrypted and it has authentication mechanisms for devices as well as people. They all add up to ensuring that the [WiMAX] air interface is as secure as can be."

So what about ABI's comparisons with 802.11? 802.11, says Hamilton, "was obviously a different story but that was several years ago and that experience has been a great teacher."

So who's on the level here? Is there a real danger of a rerun of the 802.11 security debacle, or is this an ABI beat-up to help sell an expensive research report?

Unwired was initially rather dismissive about ABI's claims, so to better prepare myself for the interview I emailed the press contact on ABI Research's press release. Could their researchers suggest a few questions I might put to Hamilton to pinpoint the issues of concern raised in the report? That was almost a week ago, and I've heard nothing.