SWISH: Secure WiFi Sharing

Computer Networks, Special Issue on ?Network Convergence? · 2011

Abstract

The fast increase of mobile Internet use motivates the need for WiFi sharing solutions, where a mobile user connects to the Internet via a nearby foreign network while its home network is far away. This situation is a security challenge which is only partially solved by existing solutions like VPNs. Such solutions neglect the security of the visited network, and private users or organizations are thus reluctant to share their connection. In this paper, we present and implement SWISH, an efficient, full scale solution to this problem. SWISH is based on establishing a tunnel from the visited network to the user’s home network. All the data from the mobile is then forwarded through this tunnel. Internet access is therefore provided without endangering the foreign network. We also propose protocol extensions that allow the visited network to charge for the data it forwards, and to protect the privacy of the mobile user while preventing abuse. SWISH was successfully deployed on university networks, demonstrating that it can be conveniently implemented in existing networks with a minimal impact on performance.

People

Damien Leroy
Damien Leroy
Gregory Detal
Gregory Detal
J
Julien Cathalo
M
Mark Manulis
F
François Koeune
Cite (BibTeX)
@article {DGJMFO11, 
	title = {SWISH: Secure WiFi Sharing},
	journal = {Computer Networks, Special Issue on ?Network Convergence?},
	volume = {55},
	number = {7},
	pages = {1614-1630},
	author = {Damien Leroy and Gregory Detal and Julien Cathalo and Mark Manulis and François Koeune and Olivier Bonaventure},
	year = {2011},
	month = {May},
	note = {See http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2011.01.012},
}