Authentication Mechanism for Bandwidth Request Messages in Wi-MAX

The IEEE 802.16 standard defines the security sublayer basically used to provide privacy, authentication or confidentiality. WiMAX is the emerging solution in the market to replace DSL/fibre cable to provide backhaul connectivity to wifi hotspots in cheaper rate, but the demand of security is increased. This paper analyze the IEEE 802.16 standard, to investigate various vulnerabilities and to propose possible solutions to improve the security of Privacy Key Management protocol. We found out various attacks of bandwidth request messages,which arise question to home user for the use of WiMAX. We have proposed a new method to authenticate band width request message. The results that we have obtained after implementing the new authentication method is shown in the end of this paper.